Getrude Chandiru was the player of the tournament in Namibia when Uganda surprised Zimbabwe in the final of the 2017 Africa Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers.
The Victory earned the Victoria Pearls a place at the Global Qualifiers in 2018 in the Netherlands.
Chandiru dominated the African Qualifiers with both ball and bat. She finished as the highest wicket taker with 15 scalps and was also the leading run scorer in the tournament with 107 runs, and no surprise when she was named tournament MVP.
Uganda earned their first shot at the Women’s T20 World Cup at the Global Qualifiers in the Netherlands, with Chandiru doing the heavy lifting for the side. She was one of the most experienced on the side with the likes of Consy Aweko and Franklin Najjumba, but in the trenches, she was always there for the team.
However, the reality from the associate world is that you don’t play enough to make cricket a sustainable way of living. From 2018, the Victoria Pearls had to wait for over a year for their next engagement, and that time lost for a player means time lost in the life cycle.
While you wait for an opportunity to compete, life is happening elsewhere; life won’t pause and wait for you to enjoy playing and then press play when you stop. The reality is harsh on women because in the African setting, they are the primary caregivers at home, either as mothers or as big sisters.
In 2022, Chandiru made the decision to move to Qatar for work with no hope of ever playing international cricket, but with the faith that if she found a girls’ team, she would join and play during her days off.
An opportunity to be involved availed itself through a digital scoring course that was being run by the Qatar Cricket Association, and one thing led to another, with an opportunity to play for a club availing itself.
In 2022, I travelled to Qatar for work and first thing I looked for was ladies cricket club because I had weekly off day and I wanted to do one thing that I love the most (cricket).
So early in 2023, Qatar Cricket Association announced about having a digital scoring course on Instagram. I spoke with Ms Shivani (Qatar Cricket Administrator) to get more info about it and during that course I met her, she introduced me to everyone and connected me to national team coach and I started playing in club level.
Getrude Chandiru
Once she completed the mandatory residence requirement that allows her to feature for Qatar, in 2025 Chandiru made her debut for Qatar during the GCC T20 Women’s Cup, and since then she has featured for Qatar at least 16 times with a highest score of 62 and picked up 15 wickets with the ball.
While it’s a new environment, Chandiru has learned to adapt to her new surroundings. Qatar is still growing the women’s game, but the goal for her remains the same: to make her adopted nation proud.
Compared to Qatar, Victoria Pearls have more opportunities and experience in terms of international exposure, talent development, more established high-performance programs whereas Qatar Cricket is developing and providing opportunities and promoting growth in women’s cricket through different programs like Criio.
Getrude Chandiru
Chandiru is not looking to stop, and as long as her body allows, she wants to contribute to the growth of cricket in Qatar.
I want to continue representing Qatar in higher levels through consistent high performance in international games. As long as I feel good I will definitely want to contribute to the growth of cricket in Qatar with my playing and even coaching.
Gertrude Chandiru
