Prime
Trio shines in Namibia warm-up
Top order batsman Roger Mukasa came out firing. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
What you need to know:
Cup Half Full: Coach Abhay Sharma refrained from criticising any member of his squad. Instead, he focused on the positives and emphasized the importance of continuing hard work in the nets to achieve further improvement.
The positives outweighed the negatives as the Cricket Cranes went down to familiar foes Namibia by five wickets in their first warm-up match at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies.
The biggest positive for the team was arguably getting a competitive game under floodlights and the fact that each of the 14 players got a chance to participate in the warm-up fixture, played at the iconic Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, San Fernando—55 kilometers away from the team’s residence at the Hilton Hotel in Port of Spain.
Couple of positives
On a tough slow and low bounce wicket, Uganda’s batting unit showed resolve en route to huffing and puffing to 134 runs with Roger Mukasa (51 not out off 41 balls) and Robinson Obuya (38 off 27), both batting in unusual positions, stepping up to the plate.
The bowlers also took credit from the night fixture by pushing the game to the 19th over despite a second-wicket partnership of 85 runs between Man of the Match Nikolaas Davin (54 off 34) and Jean Pierre Kotze (29 off 31).
The left-arm orthodox spinning duo of Alpesh Ramjani (1/23) and Henry Ssenyondo (2/14) got rid of Davin, Kotze, and Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus (2 off 4) to slow down the march to victory for the southern Africans.
The Eagles finally managed to nick the win with seven balls remaining, but it could all have been a different ball game if Uganda had done a couple of basics right. There were no contributions with the bat from the middle-order batsmen, and the fielding, which was arguably Uganda’s forte over the years, was less than terrific. Four catches, two stumpings, and one run-out were missed.
Obuya stretches during the final warm up game at Lugogo. PHOTO/EDDIE CHICCO
Reworking the plan
“If you see the final result, we are on the losing side but if you analyse the game critically, there are a lot of positives,” explained coach Abhay Sharma. “We didn’t get many runs on the board, but the bowlers did their bit, and then Roger (Mukasa) and Robinson (Obuya), who both started slowly, did well with some clean hitting. We didn’t get enough runs; if our middle order had fired, we could have recorded another 20 runs and then the result could have come our way. Our batsmen must get off the blocks quickly and show both momentum and awareness of the match situation.”
Uganda’s standout batsman Mukasa was happy with the time he spent at the crease and opined that the batting unit was aware of the task at hand and willing to take on the challenge. “As batsmen, we realize there is work to be done, and we are willing to dig in,” confessed Mukasa. “That’s why we get these warm-up matches, to adjust. We must adapt to these wickets quickly because the pitches are slow and not the same as those in Kampala. They’re tough to play on. We lost today, but it wasn’t a bad loss; we can build on it. It gives us a picture of what to expect, and we also cannot blame the lights for our fielding mishaps.”
Uganda will aim to showcase further improvements in their next warm-up match against Scotland on Thursday morning (5:30 PM EAT).
ICC MEN’S T20 WORLD CUP
Results – Warm Up Games
Uganda 134/8 Namibia 135/5
Namibia won by 5 wickets
Canada 183/7 Nepal 120/10
Canada won by 63 runs
PNG 137/9 Oman 141/7
Oman won by 3 wickets
Next Warm Up Fixture
Thursday, May 30, - 5.30 PM (EAT)
Scotland vs. Uganda, Brian Lara Cricket Academy
