BY ALVIN BAGAYA
TEAM UGANDA - TOURNAMENT ITINERARY
Thursday, July 5: Teams & Officials Arrive
Friday, July 6: Captains Photo Shoot & Opening Ceremony
Saturday, July 7: Kenya vs. Uganda, 10.30am
Sunday, July 8: Uganda vs. Tanzania, 10.30am
Monday, July 9: Rest/Reserve Day
Tuesday, July 10: Uganda vs. Rwanda, 2.50pm
Wednesday, July 11: Tanzania vs. Uganda, 10.30am
Thursday, July 12: Rest/Reserve Day
Friday, July 13: Rwanda vs. Uganda, 2.50pm
Saturday, July 14: Uganda vs. Kenya, 2.50pm
Sunday, July 15: Departure of Teams
Uganda flew out of Entebbe International Airport headed for the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Africa Qualifier to be held at the picturesque Gahanga International Cricket Stadium, Gahanga on Thursday 5th July 2018; the tournament played as part of 2020 ICC World Twenty20 Qualification
Twelve regional qualifiers are being held by the International Cricket Council (ICC), with 62 teams competing during 2018 in five regions – Africa (3 groups), Americas (2), Asia (2), East Asia Pacific (2) and Europe (3).
The top 25 sides from these will then contest five regional finals in 2019, with eight teams then going on to compete in the 2020 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, along with the six lowest ranked sides from the ICC T20I Championship.
Blazing Batsmen
For the first time in a long while Uganda goes into a tournament with most if not all of their batsmen in fine form, holding form will however be key. Twenty20 as a game is the arena for run machines. The nature of wickets at Gahanga notwithstanding, it is likely only those with a deeper armoury of batsmen that will pull through.
Uganda’s Team to the qualifier is power-packed with; Roger Mukasa (captain), Brian Masaba (vice-captain), Hamu Kayondo, Dinesh Nakrani, Deus Muhumuza, Riazat Shah, Irfan Afridi, Henry Ssenyondo, Frank Nsubuga, Kenneth Waiswa, Fred Achelam, Charles Waiswa, Bilal Hassun & Ronak Patel
Uganda’s confidence going into the qualifiers in Kigali is the form displayed by their top guns in the lead up to the tournament;
Special Captain
Roger Mukasa [64(46) vs Kutchi Tigers CC, 37(30) vs Ceylon Lions, 91(65) Vs Premier CC, 85(36) Vs Yuva XI, 124 (58) Vs Avengers XI].
Hardworking Hamu
Hamu Bagenda Kayondo [181 (131) Vs Tornado Bees CC]
Risky-free Rizu
Riazat Ali Shah [108(105) Vs K.I.C.C, 80(64) Vs Ceylon Lions CC, 54(30) Vs Keshwala XI, 62(26) Vs Sunrise Strikers, 169 (58) Vs Telugu Warriors
Dashing Dinu
Dinesh Nakrani: [47(41) Vs Tornado Bees C.C, 77(95) Vs Strikers CC, 59(30) Vs Graphic Group]
Holding form will be key, and the back up from the athletic fielding that has been Uganda Cricket Team’s flagship brand in tournaments will be just the ingredients needed for the qualifiers.
For those close to the team and followed their progress from the arrival of Steve Tikolo, they have steadily morphed into a meticulous, structured and well regulated outfit. Those that couldn’t raise their discipline and application off the field to the required standards dropped off, those willing to dig deep and find that extra effort to apply their basics but also work within is proper team ethic have found Tikolo’s regimen rewarding.
“It is about processes. We have to let them work. The guys know what is required of them at all times,” Tikolo often says.
He works with uncompromising systems in place, systems geared at keeping players from dropping below what their potential should help the achieve at the world stage in cricket, as well as life outside the game.
Talismanic Tikolo
Tikolo has no days off. Whether in work or social life and has tried to infuse this way-of-life into his troops, keep working at it until the final ball of the innings or match; he once got off a South Gujarati Chikhli-Mumbai-Doha-Entebbe trip with a five-hour layover in Doha to cover another 503km (313 miles) by bus without a break to see his family in Nairobi.
His level of commitment and focus has transformed most if not all on the team into the kind of cut and dried combatants he likes to work with to produce results.
All the players are fit and raring to go. We have been working on the one and half months working on Twenty20 skills. If you have been following the national team trial games and how guys have been performing in the league, then you have noticed some very good exceptional performances. Hopefully we can translate that into the tournament.” Tikolo maintains.
Coming of Age
In effect, most of his players now display the bravery and ability characterised by his playing days. Riazat Shah, who joined the squad as a wiry 19-year-old unsure of his abilities is now scoring hundreds for fun. Now a destructive middle order batsman to join in with Kenneth Waiswa, Fred Achelam, Mohammed Irfan Sahibzada Afridi and Dinesh Nakrani.
Roger Mukasa stepped into some big shoes after the World Cricket League Division III debacle, with a tough Tour of Qatar and India on his Curriculum Vitae, and he proceeded to win the WCL IV Championship in Malaysia bouncing back from an opening day loss to the hosts.
Mukasa leads the top order with in-form opener Hamu Kayondo Bagenda coming off a blistering 181 (131) in the Jazz Safari National League and looking to display his cataclysmic approach to Twenty20 cricket that has quickly made him the bane of every league bowler’s existence.
Home Away From Home
The opposition will mainly meet the flamboyance and affable ways of the new look Cricket Cranes off the field, but the ruthless and methodical destruction of teams that lies beneath their ebullient and jocular character on the field is what has brought them out of the doldrums of relegation to the Division IV and onwards to the Championship to fight again in WCL Division III.
Most Ugandans finally have a chance to watch their team play considering the distance to Kigali, while most think Kenya is the biggest rival, Tikolo and his squad know in their work ethic that anyone who puts on his kit and shows up for the toss is a worthy rival, it will be business and destruction from ball one.
Let the Games Begin!