The Uganda men’s national cricket team, Cricket Cranes have successfully defended their T20 Africa Cup title in a smooth final against neighbors Kenya on Tuesday during the event’s second staging in South Africa.
In a one-sided match, Uganda won by 91 runs (186/8 against 95 all out).
Kenya won the toss and elected to bowl first. However, their skipper Lucas Oluoch fell to Simon Ssesazi’s last ball of the opening over but the former had an impressive time on the crease, posting 14 runs from just 9 balls, that comprised of 1 four and 1 six.
In pursuit of the total, Kenya failed to get going with the required rate going up in every over. Henry Ssenyondo (4/20) was the pick of the bowlers with Alpesh Ramjani, Dinesh Nakrani cleaning up the rest of the wickets.
However, Kenya’s Irfan Karim posted a team high high 30 runs off 33 balls. Emmanuel Bundi (21 runs) and Nelson Odhiambo (11 runs) also managed double figures.
For Uganda’s innings, Robinson Obuya hit a half-century (57 runs) with contributions coming throughout the team.
Dinesh Nakrani (29), Alpesh Ramjani (19), Bilal Hassan (18), Kenneth Waisswa (17) and Simon Ssesazi (14) all posted double figures for Jackson Ogwang’s coached side.
Uganda ran out as winners by 91 runs in a one-sided final.
Uganda lost its opening game of the tournament to Rwanda and only big victories against Malawi and Mozambique helped them to finish on top of the group. They walked past Botswana in the semifinal by 10 wickets to set up a final with old enemy Kenya.
The combination of Roger Mukasa and Simon Ssesazi at the top of the order looked to have clicked while Henry Ssenyondo and Bilal Hassun were very good with the ball.
The victory provides a boost of confidence for the team as they look to build towards future international competitions. Overall, this victory is a remarkable achievement for the Cricket Cranes who also recently qualified for next year’s T20 World Cup.
