Wednesday, March 20
South Africa – 95/9 in 20 overs
Uganda – 99/8 in 20 overs
*Uganda won by 2 wickets
Uganda men’s national Cricket team, the Cricket Cranes, have advanced to the semifinals of the African Games following their slim win against South Africa in their final Group A game on Wednesday.
The Cricket Cranes who progress to the final four as Group A leaders had their captain Brian Masaba to thank for the win.
Uganda savoured an excellent bowling spell in the first Innings as they restricted South Africa to just 95 runs, while picking nine wickets, but a wanting batting show almost cost the side what was supposed to be an easy victory.
Masaba suffered a niggling in the first innings, and had to be helped out by the team physiotherapist Shamim Nassali, however, he had to walk in 7 down to save the situation.
Uganda entered the final Over needing 11 runs to seal victory. The skipper skied two maximums, the first one coming at the start of the Over, and the second at the opposite end to ensure just that. He ended the game with 14 off 8.
Roger Mukasa earned himself the Player of the Match award. The 34-year-old turned up with 41 beating both Bilal Hassun and Alpesh Ramjani who plucked 4/10 and 3/9 respectively to the award.
The Cricket Cranes advance to the semifinals along with their neighbors Kenya who beat Ghana in the other group game to seal their spot in the next round.
Both sides will await to see who they face in the next round. Zimbabwe, leaders of Group A, Tanzania placed second and Nigeria placed third are all in the running for the top two spots.
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