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Why record-breaking year for Cricket Cranes should not make players rest on their laurels
Robert Madoi
What you need to know:
- Whereas Laurence Mahatlane was tempted to give a settled line-up an extended run in 2021, the Cricket Cranes head coach must surely know that the appeal of some of his trusted lieutenants has steadily waned.
Assessments of Uganda’s white-ball cricket credentials at international level in 2021 have toggled between good and excellent.
Cricket Cranes players have collectively marked themselves out as a tour de force in limited-overs, with Uganda using its white-ball skills to pack 15 Twenty-20 International wins inside a calendar year.
While many overwhelmingly agree that the purple patch, which climaxed in Uganda securing a berth at the global qualifier for 2021 ICC Men’s Twenty-20 World Cup, is the culmination of months of hard work amid the waning pandemic; even the Cricket Cranes backroom staff sheepishly admits that there’s still work to be done.
Which is just as well. Cricket is essentially a numbers game that is radical in its honesty when digesting data on a spreadsheet. The numbers that last month’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier spewed were startling in their significance and candour.
Whereas Laurence Mahatlane was tempted to give a settled line-up an extended run in 2021, the Cricket Cranes head coach must surely know that the appeal of some of his trusted lieutenants has steadily waned.
There are some egregious failings that were not masked under the veneer of perfection that 15 T20I wins provided. Most of the deficits came to light at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Region Qualifier.
From a batting perspective, the top order struggled – unsuccessfully on most occasions, it must be added – to score more freely. Saud Islam notably came off second best while facing deliveries that limited his footwork.
It remains to be seen if he can come up with the goods against a quality attack intent on lifting deliveries on the off-stump.
Islam’s soft underbelly throws a lifeline to top order batsmen (Arnold Otwani, Roger Mukasa, and Zephaniah Katungi) who were desperately unlucky to find themselves on the fringes in 2021. But, much like Islam, these contenders will have to show that they are more than just dangerous on the offside.
Another telling – if more understated – problem that will keep Mahatlane walking the floor nights is the lower-middle order. It appears not to have the necessary muscle to get a scoreboard ticking.
As the Nigerian attack showed in the rain-affected match at Gahanga International Cricket Stadium, things could swiftly go awry for Uganda if Dinesh Nakrani and Riazat Ali Shah do not bat through the innings.
Questions will consequently be asked about the continued presence of a specialist wicketkeeper in the Cricket Cranes XI. Could part-time wicketkeepers like Mukasa, Katungi, and Otwani exploit this deficiency to force themselves back in the frame?
The other outstanding issue revolves around how Uganda bowls in the middle overs and backend of the innings.
Spinners tend to be trusted hands in the middle overs of T20 cricket.
Uganda, however, uses Frank Nsubuga’s classical pace of off-spin and wiliness to open its bowling.
Whereas Henry Ssenyondo has over the years shown that he possesses the guile, nous and control to stifle the opposition’s run-rate whilst snaring wickets, the wunderkind that is Frank Akankwasa has mostly been erratic.
One, of course, ought to deal gently with the vastly talented Akankwasa who is still learning the ropes of international cricket. But it is evident that the problems in the middle overs are negatively impacting Uganda’s death bowling.
If the death bowlers are not being forced to use up their quota early, something spectacularly bad is sure to happen – take Bilal Hassan’s reverse swing proving to be impotent. All of which – taken together with other shortcomings – mean that Cricket Cranes’ report card heading into 2022 should not make them complacent.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @robertmadoi
