Shah powers Cricket Cranes

There were expected subjective murmurs when Team Uganda’s technical team opted to hand Riazat Ali Shah the Cricket Cranes captain’s reins following Brian Masaba’s retirement from international Twenty20 cricket.

However, few doubted Shah’s abilities to deliver on the field. On Saturday, he sealed the chance to further proficiency as skipper when he smashed an 87-ball century of 104 runs to help Uganda to a 209-run victory over neighbours Tanzania at Lugogo Oval.

“It feels so amazing to score some runs for the country,” remarked Shah after they had bowled out Tanzania for 80 runs in 27.5 overs.

The huge victory took Uganda’s record to two wins in two matches as the hosts held control of the first round of the  International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup Challenge League (CWCCL) B tournament.

In recent times, most profoundly at the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in the Caribbean back in June, the Cricket Cranes were pegged back by wobbly batting.

That has been the country’s Achilles heel over the past two decades and it keeps recurring. And when it does, it bites hard.

But when Uganda turned up to face Tanzania, who pressed them against the wall in the memorable 2022 Africa T20 Cup final in South Africa, they broke those chains. 

“As a batting unit, we talked about this before.The batters showed character,” Shah explained. Right-hand batsman Shah mixed grit and finesse with the bat, striking five boundaries and six maximums in his innings which led Uganda to 289-7.

The 26-year-old built the fulcrum to a perfect batting session for Uganda with a pivotal 139-run partnership for the sixth wicket with Alpesh Ramjani, who struck a half-century of 74 runs off 48 balls.

Prior, Robinson Obuya (39 off 57), Raghav Dhawan (10 off 15), Shrideep Mangela (21 off 35) and Kenneth Waiswa (20 off 39) had put the total at 83-3 when Shah walked in midway the 21st over.

With the ball, young pace bowlers Cosmas Kyewuta and Juma Miyagi were deadly. Kyewuta struck a fiver of 5/26 and had two maidens in eight overs while Miyagi picked 2/16 and two maidens in six overs.

Their pace left Tanzania at 42-7 in 14.2 overs and by the end with orthodox bowler Henry Ssenyondo picking 2/15 and a maiden in 41 deliveries, only Ivan Selemani (18-run-a-ball) and SanjayKumar Thakor (18 off 36) had reached double digits.

“In this tournament, every win is important for us. Getting two wins from the first two games gives us confidence and momentum.”

“We are playing in our own home conditions; we want to score some good runs. It is important for us to go and spend some good time there,” added Shah.

Uganda remains top of the charts on four points with Italy, who have a better Net Run Rate (NRR) after setting 342/4 thanks to an unbeaten 80-ball century of 114 runs from Harry Manenti before they bowled out Hong Kong for 187 runs in 41.4 overs in Entebbe on Saturday.

ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE CHALLENGE LEAGUE B

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Uganda 289/7 Tanzania 80/10 

(Uganda won by 209 runs)

Italy 342/4 Hong Kong 187/10 

(Italy won by 155 runs)

TUESDAY FIXTURES 

10am: Bahrain vs. Italy, Lugogo

10am: Hong Kong vs. Tanzania, Entebbe

WEDNESDAY’S FIXTURES

10am: Singapore vs. Tanzania, Lugogo

10am: Uganda vs. Italy, Entebbe

 COLLATED TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Singapore 82 Uganda 86/3

(Uganda won by 7 wickets)

Bahrain 200/9 Hong Kong 201/7

(Hong Kong won by 3 wickets via DLS method)

Tanzania 173/10 Italy 169/1

(Italy won by 9 wickets via DLS method) 

TABLE STANDINGS

Teams          M W L T D N/R Pts

1 Italy             2 2 0 0 0 0 4

2 Uganda        2 2 0 0 0 0 4

3 Hong Kong  2 1 1 0 0 0 2

4 Tanzania      2 0 2 0 0 0 0

5 Singapore    1 0 1 0 0 0 0

6 Bahrain        1 0 1 0 0 0 0