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Sunday, 06 September 2015 12:27

Schools Cricket Week projects bright future for cricket in Uganda

With no gusts of rain flurrying through, the sunbathed Lugogo Oval produced a Schools Cricket Week final of remarkable contrasts a fortnight ago. A repeat of the 2014 washed out final, Busoga College Mwiri came through to win an arm wrestle against Kololo SSS by 30 runs (a huge margin in the T20 format the tournament embodied). It was Mwiri’s 16th title.
A profound difference was not only registered on the scoreboard, but also in the bowling approaches. The sight of wicketkeeper Ashraf Senkubuge tearing off pads from his shins and gloves from the hands to bowl spin in the final over might not have been defining but was telling nonetheless. Kololo SSS skipper Rogers Olipa had asked his spin bowlers to obtain large amounts of traction on what looked like a slow surface in a bid to put the skids under Mwiri’s rampant batsmen. 
Kololo SSS had some formidable slow men at its disposal in the shape of Frank Akankwasa, Simon Oketcho, and Siraje Nsubuga. Oketcho, whose bowling style has been likened to that of the legendary Frank Nsubuga, stood resplendent after picking up two wickets at the cost of 22 runs in four overs. He wasn’t the most economical of bowlers (Siraje Nsubuga took that honour with a haul of 2/13 in four), but he undoubtedly put his hand up when the slog was on. 
With all the recognised slow bowlers having completed their allotted four overs, Olipa made the brave decision to hand the duty of seeing through the final over to Senku-buge. A variety of flight and spin didn’t mask the fact that the wicketkeeper is a part-timer. Six balls and 10 runs later, Kololo SSS had a target of 116 runs to overhaul. It was a daunting task, but not one that would make Kololo SSS’ much-vaunted batsmen quake in their boots. Mwiri’s pace bowlers were widely expected to struggle to find glory in their deeds on a slow wicket. It was in fact Zephaniah Arinaitwe, a part-time spinner, who drew first blood for Mwiri after his variations flummoxed Senkubuge. Yet instead of riding piggyback on spin, Mwiri turned to its pace bowlers. The quickness of David Wabwire, Collins Okwalinga and Kenneth Waiswa (plus medium pace of Davis ‘Kamo-ga’ Aciire) had been a treasure of incalculable value for Mwiri during the tournament. Not even a slow wicket would take the sting out of the pace attack. Playing in his last Schools Cricket Week tournament, Wabwire was particularly unplayable en route to snaring three wickets. Many have said that Wabwire has all the tools to do more than just flirt with greatness. 
For Ugandan cricket, it must make for a refreshing change that it has a rich pile of bow-lers — both fast and slow — from which to choose in the future. This year’s Schools Cricket Week showed more than anything that the future of Ugandan cricket is bright. The batting might at times have been brittle, but it wasn’t worrying enough to rain on the sport’s parade as was the case — both literally and metaphorically — during last year’s final.

 

By Robert Madoi

Posted  Sunday, September 6  2015 at  01:00

Read 30125 times

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