Match Summary
Uganda Under 19 149/9 in 20 overs (Arinaitwe Zephaniah 56 off 28, Cosmas Kyewuta 29 off 15) beat Kanbis Under 19 46/10 in 17.1 overs (Abishek Chidam 12 off 26) by 103 runs.
The Uganda U19s went to Nairobi with one goal, to win. And win, they did in the most fashionable way they could possibly muster.
The baby cranes won the toss and elected to bat first in a contest where it was all or nothing. After annihilating Swamibapa in their opener, the Uganda U19s were hotly tipped as the tournament favorites. A side largely dominated by all-rounders was surely not short of batting options from the onset.
Zephaniah Arinaitwe was once again the star with the bat notching up 56 runs in half as many deliveries with an impressive strike-rate of 200%. After a record breaking 193 runs in their opener, Zephaniah was the key to winning the game for the Uganda U19s.
Kanbis bowler Jayant Mepani who managed to scalp 5 of the Uganda U19s wickets for 26 runs in four overs was impressive for the opponents but not enough to stop the final score of 149/9 in 20 overs. In a T20, 149 runs might seem small, as the Ugandans might have feared. But all of their worries were for naught as they managed to bowl out their opposition for 46 runs.
The spin duo of Simon Okecho and the captain Frank Akankwasa led the onslaught for Uganda with the pair picking up 3/9 and 2/7 respectively in a combined five overs. Coupled with Arinaitwe’s batting brilliance, the pair easily won the game for Uganda U19s, handing Frank Akankwasa and the baby cranes their first piece of silverware.
Despite being a friendly tournament, the Uganda U19s will be looking to build on these performances with the U19 World Cup Qualifiers in sight sometime next year.