By 
- Uganda 254/9 in 50 overs
- Italy 230/10 in 49.3 overs
- Uganda wins by 24 runs
Cricket Cranes Captain Riazat Ali Shah once again delivered for his side scoring a half century (57)off 55 balls in his side’s Fourth game of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League B at the Lake side Oval in Entebbe on Wednesday.
Riazat Ali Shah at the toss.
Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Uganda managed total 254 runs for a loss of 9 wickets in the 1st innings with two half centuries, one from the Captain and other from Dinesh Nakrani (58 off 47 balls).
L-R: Riazat Ali Shah and Dinesh Nakrani.
Riazat Ali Shah with half Century signal.
Dinesh Nakrani with half century signal.
Heading into the batting bit the team had made a name for themselves already having a strong back end however this time it was the middle order coming out on top, starting the game with top order batter Robinson Obuya who managed (11) in 4.3 Overs.
Shrideep Mangela(27), Raghav Dhawan (46), Brian Masaba(22) with 102 dot balls in the middle all followed before the formidable 97 run patnership of Riazat and Nakrani.
With Alphesh Ramjani, Juma Miyaji, Fred Achelem, Frank Nsubuga and Henry Ssenyondo coming up with the Extras to push Uganda to 254 runs, with Italy yet to bat.
However on the chase, a strong Italy side came out of ropes right at the start of the second innings with combination of former Australia opening batter Joe Burns (82) and Emilio Gay (50)who both struck half centuries.
Joe Burns after reaching his half century mark in the game.
Italy converging to celebrate a wicket.
With Captain Marcus Campopiano coming in third to bat thus contributing only (10) thanks to Henry Ssenyondo’s bowling prowess with a great catch by Miyagi.
Harry Manenti (26),wicket keeper Gian-Piero Meade (24) and Damith Kosala (15) batting at 5, 8 and 10 are other individuals who got into double figures for Italy as the wicket span late in the game to slow down their batting.
Ssenyondo was the name on all Ugandan’s lips as he put up an outstanding bowling display with two maidens, conceding 28 runs and aiding 4 wickets in 10 Overs later going on to clinch the man of the match accolade.
Henry Ssenyondo with Man of the Match accolade.
When asked what the thought was as he was coming forward to bowl his first Over a tired Ssenyondo said;
“My thought was getting the first wicket because I knew if we got the first the rest would follow”
For Team Captain Riazat, opted to bat first and insisted that he knew the wicket will spin;
“1st innings we batted well and wanted to put on a score above 240, however the first 17 overs of the second innings were not easy but we wanted to fight till the end” he said
Adding that; “After the 17 Overs, they started losing wickets and we knew as the game went on the wicket would spin and their batting would slow down”
When asked about the reliance on the middle today on the day, Riazat continued;
“Top Four are struggling but are giving us a couple of stats, out target is just to go out there and bat because we have a long batting order and everyone can chip in with an aim of scoring runs till the 50th Over”
“Going forward into the last game against Bahrain there areas we would like to improve especially top order batting in-order score big but everyone there is talented, I trust them and against Bahrain I feel I have positive vibes for them” he concluded
For the Italy Captain, Marcus Campopiano, says his side wanted to restrict Iganda as much as possible;
Italy Captain Marcus Campopiano during post match interview.
“Coming into the game we wanted to something similar to bat first but still when we bowled we wanted to restrict Uganda as much as possible most especially in those last 10 Overs” he started
“Unfortunately they kind of go away from us at the end and then when we batted in the first 15 to 20 Overs, we batted with good intent, all of did well and from my point I was really happy” he added
“However we linked a couple of Extras in the first innings and there are few bits we could have cleaned up but it’s a 6, 7 hour day you to make some mistakes but am happy if we play lots of Cricket like we did, we going to win lots of matches” he concluded
Cricket Cranes Fans cheering on during the game.
The result meant that Uganda remains unbeaten and will close the ICC CWC Challenge League B First round action on Saturday 16th November against Bahrain at the Lakeside Oval with action starting at 10 am.
Cricket Cranes players appreciate their fans after the games.
For Italy, they will close the first round with Singapore at the Lugogo Cricket Oval on the same day at the same time.
