Tornado Bee Vs Premier CC – Lugogo Oval
Strikers CC Vs Aziz Damani – Kyambogo Oval
Challengers Vs KICC – Entebbe Lakeside oval
The clocks have finally wound up, and the 2018 Jazz Safari National men’s league is finally upon us. The new season starts on Saturday, March 24th with three games in Division III, and on Sunday the 25th with three games in Division I and just the one game in Division II.
In a game bound to be both competitive and entertaining, 2017 champions Aziz Damani will take on a youthful Strikers to kick off their title defense.
Strikers Cricket Club will be making their maiden appearance in Division One and will look to cement their place in the division after putting up a string of impressive performances that gained them their promotion. A game bustling with immense talent on both sides will be down to a show of experience.
With the invaluable experience of “Coach” Steve Tikolo and Benjamin “Benzo” Musoke, Damani have beefed up their squad with additions such as Charles Waiswa (cricket cranes opening bowler) and Fred Achelam (cricket cranes wicket keeper) from Tornado Bee and Henry Ssenyondo (Left arm “orthodox” spinner) from Challengers.
At the Lugogo cricket oval, 2017 Division Two champions Premier CC will face off against 2016 Division One champions Tornado Bee.
The latter, a side that boasts of talent such as the cricket cranes skipper Roger Mukasa and 2017 best fielder Deus Muhumuza among others will look start their campaign with a show of strength, but suffice too say, Premier will hope to be equal to the task.
With the additions of U19’s Ronald Opio and Calvin Watuwa who both impressed for their clubs last year, Premeir will look to mount a challenge. Tornado Bee are without opening bowler Charles Waiswa and wicket keeper Fred Achelam, both of whom swapped the green for the yellow of Aziz Damani.
The year 2017 came with many mixed emotions for Challengers cricket club as they saw their title hopes slip out of their grasp, game after game.
Notably, one such game was against KICC, a side they will hope to better or batter in this case when they square off in their opening fixture at the lake side oval in Entebbe.
A failure to chase down a score of about 90 set by KICC saw Challengers slip up and create an opening for the eventual champions. In what can be dubbed as retribution, Challengers will gunner into Sunday’s game with the hopes of nulling the threat posed by KICC.
They will bank on the guile of Ham “Big Fish” Kayondo, Arthur Kyobe’s bran, David Wabwire’s daunting speed with the ball and Shezad Kamal’s finesse with the bat. KICC will without doubt look to veteran all-rounder Frank Nsubuga, former national team skipper Davis Karashani, the youthful Arinaitwe Zephania, and a host of other players.
This game has the makings of a classic with both sides knowing that a win against the other broadens their chances of mounting a challenge for the title.