Self-examination intensifies for Victoria Pearls

Senior national cricket teams perhaps, lately face more painful surgeries in the aftermath of defeat, compared to other sides in the country.

The women’s national cricket team - the Victoria Pearls - sometimes get away with it. The men face more wrath though.

But after the tough outing where they bowed out with three defeats in four matches at the ICC Women’s Twenty20 Global Qualifier in Abu Dhabi, UAE, majority of the sport’s faithful aren’t easily accepting the results.

Consistent poor batting displays left the Victoria Pearls with no chance of progressing out of Group A in pursuit of one of the available two tickets to the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup set to be in Bangladesh come September.

And when the pressure valve was let loose while bowling first, allowing the world’s seventh best team - Sri Lanka - to post a pretty comfortable 161-3, then the Wednesday afternoon business at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium just got hotter for coaches Lawrence Ssematimba and Deus Muhumuza’s charges.

“Things have not gone as I had anticipated,” admitted Ssematimba, a former wicket-keeper batsman for the Cricket Cranes. “The other teams were better, they batted better than us, especially the top orders.”

And therein lies the story. Sri Lanka on Wednesday cracked the Pearls’ bowling shells.

Their top-order of Vishmi Gunaratne (73* runs off 64 balls) and skipper Chamari Athapaththu (24 off 21 runs) shared 50 runs for the opening stand inside 40 balls and the South Asians never looked back.

Another 24-ball 30 from Hasini Perera made them even more comfortable. If anything, the Ugandan ladies’ unit may need a batting consultant, if any.

Uganda throughout its total six matches, including the two warm-up matches against Vanuatu and UAE, only exceeded 100 runs just once, whether chasing or setting totals.

A pretty easy wobble for the top-order each match, always got Uganda cornered way too early. Even when out-of-form Proscovia Alako was relieved of duties of facing the new ball against Sri Lanka, new opener Janet Mbabazi and Immaculate Nakisuyi never survived those ghosts.

Uganda was already down 22-3 after 6.1 overs with only Mbabazi hitting double digits, and not much - 14 off 12. Alako, who later came in to bat at number six, saved some face with a knock of 36 runs off 32 balls.

However, that innings was only a candle in the strong wind, Uganda eventually bowled out for a paltry 87 runs in 19.2 overs. “Playing at this stage requires a lot of discipline, team work and the mental,” Mbabazi said.

The team changed captaincy from Consy Aweko to Mbabazi weeks before the trip to the Middle East. Talk of Muhumuza replacing Lawrence Ssempijja, even after the latter had just four Tours with Ssematimba towards the end of 2023, only seemed to have added pressure to the group.

The manner in which the Pearls dropped catches under the Abu Dhabi lights seemed to shadow the reason Uganda Cricket Association hired strength and conditioning and fielding coach Indian Sachin Japtap.

The silence between the Pearls’ players on their way back home, tells it all. The soul searching may not only continue but it's now intensified.

2024 ICC WOMEN’S T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER

MATCH DAY 5 - FRIDAY

GROUP A AT TOLERANCE OVAL

2pm: Scotland vs. Thailand

6:30pm: Sri Lanka vs. USA

GROUP B AT SHEIKH ZAYED CRICKET STADIUM

2pm: UAE vs. Vanuatu

6:30pm: Ireland vs. Netherlands

TEAM UGANDA - GROUP A RESULTS

Scotland 161/3 Uganda 52/10

(Scotland won by 109 runs)

USA 110/5 Uganda 114/2

(Uganda won by 8 wickets)

Uganda 62/10 Thailand 64/1

(Thailand won by 9 wickets)

Sri Lanka 154/4 Uganda 87/10

(Sri Lanka won by 67 runs)

WARM-UP MATCHES - RESULTS

Uganda 69/9 UAE 71/1

(UAE won by 9 wickets)

Uganda 119/6 Vanuatu 84/4

(Uganda won by 35 runs)

GROUP A STANDINGS

Pos      Team              Pld      W        L         T         NR      Pts       NRR  

1          Sri Lanka       3          3          0          0          0          6          3.462

2          Scotland         3          2          1          0          0          4          1.710

3          Thailand         3          2          1          0          0          4          0.319  

4          Uganda          4          1          3          0          0          2          -2.856

5          USA               3          0          3          0          0          0          -2.146