Date: 8th April 5, 2018
Time: 10:00a.m
Wanderers Vs Nile CC
Ground: Budo Oval
Budo CC Vs Tornado CC
Ground: – Jinja Oval
Two teams with such rich cricketing history spanning decades get the chance to resume their rivalry when they face off against one another at the Budo cricket oval. For Wanderers, this will be their 3rd appearance in the division while Nile in their 1st appearance will feel they have stepped into unfamiliar territory come Sunday.
An abysmal showing last season that saw Wanderers lose their 1st 4 games on the trot and Sam Walusimbi’s charges will be looking for that spark to ignite their campaign.
They have heavily recruited, and skipper Denis Musali will be hoping that the 11 he selects for Sunday give him the result he wants. Nile CC who often gave the Wanderers a migraine despite whichever way the result went will come to the game with every bit of intention of doing just that.
Despite losing some of their players to other clubs, Nile can still rely on some of their longest serving players such as Martin Ondeko.
Wanderers will be without their hard hitting all-rounder John Illukor who joined Africa CC and was impressive for them on his debut.
At the Jinja oval, newly promoted Budo who came up in place of Division 3 champions Pirates who opted to stay, will take on a Tornado side who’s showing in the league last year was less than optimal.
Tornado one of the traditional clubs just survived relegation to Div 3 last season after getting their final act together in their last 3 games. They come up against new comers Budo who made the grade up but will find Div 2 tougher than Div 3.
However, they knew the challenge ahead and have added some experience to their side to help out the largely young team. Journey man Emmanuel Gonahasa, tennis player Boris Aguma and Joel Epiangu have joined the team to complement the skills of hard hitting Gerald Orumo, batting all-rounder Philip Thawithemwira and captain Abu Mayanja.
Budo Captain Abu Mayanja summed up their campaign this season in One word:- SURVIVAL.
Having been technically promoted to Div 2, we hope to acquaint ourselves with this unfamiliar territory.
On paper, this looks like a mis-match but it goes to show how quickly things can turn and thus we hope to put in a spirited performance as we know that net run rate will be key in this hotly contested division.
We had a busy off season where we managed to secure some strategic partnerships in terms of sponsorships and this has helped us acquire a few personnel who we hope to help us maintain our status in div 2.
Jinja played host to the 1st thriller of the season where ACC survived being hijacked by SLKPS defeating them by 1 wicket chasing 186 runs.
They will face off on a neutral venue that might be more familiar to Tornado which has more Jinja based players in its squad.
Tornado will be lead by Brian Adriko and if they get their act together, the talent through the side should be enough to get a win against Budo.