By 
Match Summary
Sierra Leone U-19 119 all out in 47.4 overs
Uganda U-19 122/5 in 43 overs
Uganda U-19 won by 5 wickets
Baby Cricket cranes secured their first victory in the ongoing Under-19 World Cup qualifiers by defeating Sierra Leone by 5 wickets, keeping their hopes of staying in Division 1 alive.
Uganda won the toss and chose to bowl first and their bowlers quickly dominated, reducing Sierra Leone to 10 runs for 3 wickets in just 5.5 overs.
Key dismissals included Alusine Turay for 1, Captain Raymond Coker for 7, and Charles Kamara for 0. Abdulaziz Tandia and Balidawa Ali each took two wickets early on, with Ali conceding only 2 runs from 4 overs and Tandia giving away 8 runs in 5 overs.
By the end of 15 overs, Sierra Leone was at 25/4, with Ibrahim and George Sesay fighting to rebuild the innings.
Despite occasional boundaries, they struggled to score and reached 47/4 after 22 overs.
The Ugandan bowlers continued to tighten their grip, with Ali taking a third wicket and ending with 3 wickets for 11 runs in 7 overs, maintaining an exceptional economy rate of 1.10.
Tandia’s 2 wickets for 16 runs in 10 overs also kept the pressure high.
Sierra Leone finally reached 119 all out in 47.4 overs, their highest total of the tournament, thanks to valuable contributions from Ibrahim Sesay (26 off 51 balls) and George Sesay (42 off 108 balls), but Uganda’s bowlers were relentless.
In their run chase, Uganda started cautiously.
After a quiet initial phase, they ended the first 15 overs at 30/1.
Another breakthrough for Sierra Leon came at 15.2 overs when Sohera Richard was dismissed for 9 runs.
Captain Gerald Olipa (20 off 35 balls) and Kidega Christopher (7 off 13 balls) soon followed, leaving Uganda at 62/3 after 26 overs.
Despite losing more wickets, Uganda remained on track.
A dropped catch off Jonathan Nyiiro allowed Uganda to regroup, and by the 39.4 overs mark, they needed only 18 runs from 61 balls.
Uganda eventually reached the target of 122/5 in 43 overs, winning by 5 wickets and securing their first win of the tournament and this will keep their hopes of staying in division one alive.
Uganda will face Namibia today and the last time the two teams met was in the 2022 qualifiers in Tanzania, where the match was abandoned and both teams shared points.
Namibia, who represented Africa in the most recent Under-19 World Cup, is one of the favorites to win the tournament.
However, after suffering a defeat to Tanzania yesterday, they will be eager to bounce back and regain their winning form.
