Budo CC 111/10 Joel Epiangu 30(24) in 33 overs lost to Wanderers CC 112/1 Denis Musali 50(60), Abu Seguya 32(48) in 19.4 overs by 9 wickets
Toss won by Wanderers who opted to field
Man of Match: Denis Musali 50(60)
The Men in Blue tasted victory for the very first time this season at the riverside oval, with a composed pursuit of 112, Budo had wrestled onto the board.
Wanderers finally found their thunder and struck at the King’s men with precision. Skipper Denis Musali won the toss and oddly elected to bowl in the 35 over duel. A curious call, but why bring a knife to a fist fight or why choose to choke a team when they can do it for you? Musali seemed to have borrowed a chapter straight out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War.
To add to the curious call to bowl first, he opened the bowling with spinners Norbert Abi and all-rounder Nirav Hathi on either side of the wicket. Although wickets weren’t falling, the board wasn’t ticking either, it was the overs that were blistering away like a phone thief. The plan was working. After catching onto Musali’s strategy of dot bowling to run down the overs, Budo skipper Abu Mayanja and his mate Emmanuel Mwawula, shifted gears, from ‘surviving’ to ‘tempting fate.’
And after a few lofty shots over midweek, it was Mwawula who fell first to the deceptive deliveries of Nirav Hathi, gifting David Kateyenge with a dolly catch at short third man. It was down and downward there after. From that point it was wickets galore owing to the class act bowling spells from David Kateyenge (3/23), Yasin Ngobi (2/29) and Zubair Tembo (3/13).
The first innings should have ended much quicker, but it seemed the demon of dropping catches was not completely exorcised from the Wanderers, Joel Epiangu was dropped at early on in his knock. The lofty batsman went on to mint an expressive 30 runs off 24 balls. The unexpected heroics of wicket keeper/batsman Joel Epiangu eventually proved to only delay Budo’s demise, the team later crashing at 111/10 in 33 overs.
Skipper Denis Musali led his ward in the charge towards victory, and unlike in the last encounter against Avengers, he actually saw the fight to the end, stroking beautifully and elegantly through covers and point. The Kings' men drew some Wanderers blood, running out youngster Abishek Mashru. Bringing into the crease, at one drop, the very underrated Abu Seguya. The dual exhibited patience and ferocity in equal measure, punishing Budo’s pacemen on both short and full pitches. Together Denis Musali -50(60) and Abu Seguya 32(48) wandered to victory. The second innings lasted all of 60 minutes and some change, much to Budo’s relief and to Coach Sam’s delight.
Captain Abu Mayanja’s confidence in his ward to undermine Wanderers’ winning efforts, turned out to be a classic case of biting off more than himself or his team could chew. In the end, the whipping boys of DIV 2 wept some more.
