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The Serenity Oval will host its first-ever National Cricket League match this weekend, and it’s a top-of-the-table clash between the hosts Ceylon Lions in second and table toppers Wanderers.
The Serenity Oval is located along Kampala-Masaka highway in Kamengo, about 50kms from the capital, and will be the home ground for the Ceylon Lions going forward.
Wanderers are at the top of the pack after picking up wins in their opening two games of the season against ACC and SKLPS. Ceylon Lions has also won as many games, against Challengers and ACC, but are only in behind Wanderers on Net Run Rate.
The Ceylon Lions will look Deus Muhumuza, Shahzad Kamal, Falak Sha, and David Wabwire to carry the burden of the team while Wanderers have added veteran spinner Frank Nsubuga to the side for the weekend game and will work with national team skipper Brian Masaba as well as team skipper Abu Seguya to get one over Ceylon Lions.
Other Matches
Tornado Bee gets their season underway against ACC at the University Oval in Kyambogo. Tornado Bee, former winners of the league, is a tried and tested side and knows when to come up with the goods when required. ACC has lost two games this season and if they are to survive the drop they need to start winning.
In Division II, Nile Cricket Club will also get their season underway when they take on the on-form Aziz Damani Development.
Aziz Damani Development is the form team of the second division as they have blown away everything in their path.
Nile is far from their glory days and on a rebuilding job to make sure they can come back to the top flight but that is not a one-year process and will surely take time.
Damani is a huge favourite to make it three in three in this encounter.
Fixtures: Sunday, 20th March
- Wanderers vs. Ceylon Lions – Kamengo 10am
- Nile vs. Aziz Damani Development – Entebbe 10am
- Tornado Bee vs. ACC – Kyambogo 10am
Match Summaries
In Lugogo
Wanderers v Aziz Damani
Game 1:
Aziz Damani 97/7
Wanderers 70/7
Aziz Damani won by 27 runs
Game 2:
Aziz Damani 123/6
Wanderers 73/8
Aziz Damani won by 50 runs
In Entebbe
Soroti Challengers v Tornado Bee
Game 1:
Soroti Challengers 101/4
Tornado Bee 74 all out
Soroti Challengers win by 27 runs
Game 2:
Soroti Challengers 154/2
Tornado Bee 72/8
Soroti Challengers win by 82 runs
Aziz Damani drew closer to title glory after dispatching Wanderers twice at Lugogo in the National T20 Women’s league on Saturday.
With four more games left in the season but need to win at least just two for them to be crowned Champions.
Damani squeezed the life of Wanderers to 70/7 in the 1st game of the day after putting on just 97 to win by 27 runs.
In the second game, an opening stand of 83 in the second game between Kenyan Margaret Ngoche (63) and Gloria Obukor (25) was the difference for Damani as they wore down the Wanderers players.
They should have scored more but a loss of wickets in clusters saw Damani finish at just 123/8.
Wanderers was positive in the chase, sending the experienced Franklyn Najjumba to open the batting but the resources were just not enough Damani winning by 50 runs.
Mildred Anyigo impressed however as an all-rounder despite not scoring many runs today she picked up a fifer (5/15) in her four-over spell in the second game.
At the lakeside Oval in Entebbe Soroti Challengers picked up their 1st wins of the tournament defeating Tornado Bee by 27 runs.
Soroti Challengers shut out the lights against Tornado Bee again in the second game, with 87 runs win margin the biggest of the season so far.
Kevin Awino (57 not out) and Naomi Kayondo (48 not out) shared an 86 run partnership for Soroti Challengers as they put on the biggest total of the season so far 154/2 in their 20 overs.
Tornado Bee was resolute in the chase, scoring slowly but making sure they give their very best, Christine Anayo (2/9) was very mean in her four spell backed up by Victoria Pearls Evelyn Anyipo (1/14).
Uganda Cricket Association celebrated two decades of ladies’ cricket in Uganda with a special game between the legends (those that started the game) and the Millenials (current Victoria Pearls).
The ladies’ game started in Uganda in 2001 when the first ladies’ side got to Tour Dar es Salaam and since then the game has grown immensely.
In the two decades of the women’s game, the ladies’ side has transitioned from being called the Lady Cricket Cranes to the Victoria Pearls as they seek to leave their own mark on the international scene.
The Victoria Pearls moment in the sun was in 2017 when they managed to defeat Zimbabwe in the African championship and qualify for the Global Qualifiers in the Netherlands in 2018.
That moment was the first time a Ugandan side had qualified to play for a tournament outside of Africa.
Over the years, many great players have played for the Victoria Pearls from the likes of Christine Aryemo, Stella Atim, Marble Kunihira, Flavia Laker, Rita Nyagendo, Scovia Akello, Franklin Najjumba, Carol Namugenyi, Barbara Mukankusi, and Gertrude Chandiru.
The two-decade celebration was also an opportunity for the ladies to reach out to vulnerable teenage mothers in the community under the theme “Using Sports to stop Teenage Pregnancy and Community Stigmatization”.
The day was concluded with a cricket game between the legends and Millenials with the latter getting one over their seniors by 4 wickets.
The legends team had the likes of Stella Atim, Felicia Tukei, Barbara Mukankusi, Rita Nyagendo, Carol Namugenyi, Franklin Najjumba, Gertrude Chandiru, and Naomi Kayondo playing for them in a contest that was very exciting.
Cricket Cranes captain Brian Masaba and Abu Seguya were the stars of the show as Wanderers CC defeated Africa CC in the men’s National League on Sunday.
ACC won the toss and elected to bat on a flat deck with a quick outfield and even though they got off to a quick start with debutant Aaron Kasasira’s 28, their momentum was halted.
The opening partnership was broken, and gradually Wanderers kept picking wickets to restrict ACC to only 133.
Brian Masaba (19) and Abu Seguya (54) yielded for Wanderers as they broke down the ACC bowlers to seal victory within 18.4 overs.
In Entebbe, Ceylon Lions walked away with their second win of the season, defeating Challengers. Shahzad Kamal (102) amassed a century as Ceylon Lions posted 204/7 in their 50 overs.
Emmanuel Hasakya (48) and Perry Wazombe (56) gave Challengers a great start in the chase but Deus Muhumuza (5/23) ensured a middle-order collapse for Ceylon Lions to win by 26 runs.
At Lugogo, Aziz Damani Development defeated Nyakasura by 6 wickets in the Division II clash. The former were cleaned up for just 85 runs before Ronald Lutaaya (35) played his role for a win by 6 wickets.
Match Summaries
Entebbe
Ceylon Lions v Challengers
Ceylon Lions 204/7
Shahzad Kamal (102)
Ruwan Jayaratne (40)
Challengers 178 all out
Perry Wazombe (56)
Hasakya Emmanuel (48)
Ceylon Lions won by 26 runs
Kyambogo
Wanderers v ACC
ACC 133 all out
Wanderers 134/4
Wanderers won by 6 wickets
Lugogo
Nyakasura 85 all out
Aziz Damani Development 88/4
Aziz Damani Development won by 6 wickets
Uganda’s national women’s cricket team has started training ahead of the Capricorn Tri-Series scheduled for April 19-27.
The Capricorn Tri-Series will have Uganda, Zimbabwe, and hosts Namibia and the series will have T20i status, thus ranking points will be up for grabs.
The experienced duo of Barbara Mukankusi and Rita Nyagendo has been included in the training squad after an impressive showing in the UCA Women’s Elite League.
Lawrence Ssematimba and Lawrence Ssempijja will handle the team interim and will be in charge of the side for the Tour to Namibia.
The Training Squad
1. Barbara Mukankusi, 2. Jimia Mohammed, 3. Patricia Timong, 4. Shakira Sadick, 5. Kevin Awino, 6. Leona Babirye, 7. Janet Mbabazi, 8. Rita Musamali, 9. Naomi Kayondo, 10. Maria Nyende, 11. Susan Kakai, 12. Jaqueline Nakayovu, 13. Janet Nakiranda, 14. Rita Nyagendo, 15. Evelyn Anyipo, 16. Eunice Kobusingye, 17. Racheal Acan, 18. Patricia Malemikia, 19. Phionah Kulume, 20. Mildred Anyingo, 21. Mary Akello, 22. Sarah Walaza, 23. Consy Aweko, 24. Christine Anayo, 25. Gloria Obukor, 26. Sarah Akiteng
The Inaugural Women’s U19 World Cup will be held in January 2023, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has confirmed.
With the 2022 Women’s World Cup on March 4th beckoning, ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice says the 1st Women’s U19 World Cup will be held before, in Bangladesh.
The discussion to have tournament started in early January 2022 and on February 28th, Geoff Allardice officially announced the tournament.
The event will showcase young and aspiring women skills at the global level but also increase the talent pool for all the cricket boards in selecting their national women’s team.
South Africa will also host the 2023 edition of the Women’s T20 World Cup which will be held in February 2023.
Martin Ondeko has left Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MTN Sports can confirm.
The former Cricket Cranes star is abandoning his position after three years at the helm. Martin had worked in other capacities before rising in ranks.
He first worked as an administrator before becoming Operations Manager, then took over the CEO mantle from Justine Ligyalingi.
His contributions to the game are immense, mainly having featured for the U-19 team at the 2004 World Cup in Bangladesh as a player.
According to a statement released by UCA, one of his achievements were making “very good ground in high performance with the cricket cranes being crowned champions in Rwanda in 2021 and the U-19 team managing to qualify for the World Cup after 15 years.”
UCA will now embark on getting a new CEO immediately, to start preparations for the Challenge League B tournament Uganda will be hosting in June.
Wanderers and Pioneer will open this season’s national T20 Ladies league match ups at Kyambogo Cricket Oval while Tornado Bee and Aziz Damani will make the journey to Entebbe.
The action will be the ultimate return of the competition after a break of 2 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Six sides will compete for the honours, title holders Aziz Damani defending their crown against Wanderers, Soroti Challengers, Tornado Bee, Olila Cricket Club and Pioneer Cricket Club.
The T20 League is reserved for the teams in Div. 1 with the 40 over league involving both the Div. 1 and Div. 2 clubs.
The T20 league comes at a time the ladies national team is going to start preparations for their tour to Namibia in late April. A large crop of players will be selected from here to make the Victoria Pearls.
Weekend Fixtures
Wanderers v Pioneer at Kyambogo | 10:00am
Tornado Bee v Aziz Damani at Entebbe | 10:00am
After waiting for more than two years to play a top-flight game on their return, Wanderers Cricket Club made the wait worthwhile winning the season opener by five wickets.
In a game played at the lakeside oval in Entebbe, Wanderers won the toss and skipper Abu Sseguua tasked SKLPS to bat first.
The overcast conditions in Entebbe helped Wanderers as Zubair Tembo ripped through the top order of SKLPS with a couple of wickets falling in the first over.
Ajay Hirani, Meghji Kara, and Ghanshyam Hirani fell for nothing as SKLPS were quickly reduced to 0/3. Only Yogesh Rabadiya (36) and Naram Vekariya (10) resisted as the side was eventually bundled out for 77.
Tembo 4/10 and Ivan Kakande 3/13 did much of the damage with the ball.
In the chase, it was Seguya’s half-century that carried Wanderers over the line after losing the opening pair of Ronald Puwata and Byandesh Singh.
The top-flight has nine teams and at the end of the one-round league, two teams will be relegated and it will be a tight race against the drop, especially for the newcomers.
Match Summary
Entebbe Cricket Oval: Wanderers v SKLPS
SKLPS 77 all out
- Yogesh Rabadiya 36
- Tembo Zubair 4/10
- Ivan Kakande 3/13
Wanderers 78/5
- Abu Seguya 50
- Naran Vekariya 3/4
Wanderers won by 5 wickets
ICC has confirmed that Uganda will host the second round of the ICC Challenge League B from June 14th-28th.
The tournament was scheduled to be hosted in Uganda in January 2022 but was postponed due to the global Omricon outbreak.
The Challenge League B is the global pathway to ICC 2023 50 over World Cup that will be hosted in India.
The 1st round of the Challenge League B was hosted in Oman and the Cricket Cranes won all their five games to top the table.
The COVID global pandemic delayed the progression of the Challenge League B in 2020 and 2021. Uganda last hosted the ICC Africa T20 World Cup Qualifiers in 2019.
Uganda will be joined by Kenya, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Jersey, and Italy in Kampala with the action expected to take place in Lugogo and Kyambogo.
The third and final leg of the Challenge League B will be held in Jersey from July 28th-10th August.