Wednesday, 6th October
*ICC U-19 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier
Tanzania – 51
Uganda – 54 (10.2/50 ov, target 52)
*Uganda won by 8 wickets (with 238 balls remaining)
Uganda U-19 Boys national Cricket team, Baby Cricket Cranes have on Wednesday qualified for the 2022 U-19 Cricket World Cup that will be held in West Indies. This comes after they beat Tanzania by eight wickets in the final day of the ICC U-19 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier in Kigali, Rwanda.
To make it to the 2022 U-19 global showpiece, Uganda emerged atop off a better Net Run Rate in the 50-over format tourney and notched the single continental slot that was at stake, dominating Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania and hosts Rwanda in the five-nation round robin event played at the beautiful Gahanga International Cricket Stadium and newly renovated Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC) located in Kicukiro – Kigali.
Albeit starting the tournament on a losing note against Namibia, Uganda bounced back with back-to-back wins against Rwanda and Nigeria before dismantling Tanzania on the final where Captain Pascal Murungi picked four wickets as Uganda limited Tanzania to 51 runs all out.
However, after the event, Uganda was tied on six points with Tanzania and Namibia, but edge the two sides to top place thanks to a better Net Run Rate of 2.128.
Uganda joins South Africa and Zimbabwe as the other African countries in the World Cup. The latter two qualified automatically as two of the top eleven teams from last year’s tournament.
Uganda has been to two U19 World Cups in 2004 (Dhaka, Bangladesh) and 2006 (Colombo, Sri Lanka) and will hope to make a much improved outing in the West Indies.
Uganda’s Squad
Uganda Pascal Murungi (Captain), Juma Miyagi, Brian Asaba, Cyrus Kakuru, Ronald Omara, Ronald Lutaaya, Joseph Baguma, Christopher Kidega, Matthew Musinguzi, Ismail Munir (Vice-Captain), Ackram Nsubuga, Pius Oloka, Isaac Sanyu Ategeka.
