Kenya face bogey side Uganda in ACA T20 Cup final
Kenya national cricket team player Pushkar Sharma trains on November 17, 2023 at Ruaraka Sports Club.
What you need to know:
- Kenya’s disastrous batting and fielding were laid bare in the Africa Regional qualifiers, where Uganda were brilliant in all areas.
Will lady luck finally smile on the Kenya national men’s cricket team?
This is the million-dollar question as coach Lameck Onyango’s side prepares to face Cricket Cranes of Uganda on Tuesday in the final of the 2023 Africa Cricket Association (ACA) T20 Cup at Willowmoore Park in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa.
Kenya sealed a place in the final in the eight-team men’s competition with a four-run win (DSL method) over Malawi on Monday at Willowmoore Park.
Defending champions Uganda reached the final with a 10-wicket victory over Botswana at the same venue on Monday.
The final will bowl off at 2:30pm Kenyan time.
As a redemption for their poor performance in the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Regional qualifiers in Windhoek, Namibia last month, Kenya are keen to win the ACA T20 Cup. But it promises to be another Herculean task since Uganda have dominated the last few meetings between the two countries.
Due to leadership wrangles that rocked Cricket Kenya for the last decade, interfering with the talent development structure, the country has fallen down the pecking order in the sport, with Uganda emerging as the new giants.
Uganda’s latest victory over Kenya was at the Africa Regional qualifiers, where they won by 33 runs.
Uganda finished second in the seven-team competition with 10 points to qualify for the upcoming World Cup co-hosted by the United States of America and West Indies in June next year.
Peerless Namibia qualified as the top team with 12 points, while Kenya finished a disappointing fifth with six points.
Kenya and Uganda have met four times this year.
The neighbours first met at the inaugural Continent Cup T20 Africa held at Nairobi Gymkhana in June, with the Cricket Cranes winning three matches, including the final by one run. In the first round of the Continent Cup T20 Africa, where teams met three times, Kenya defeated Uganda by 88 runs, but the Cricket Cranes won the two other matches by 47 runs and five wickets, respectively.
Hoping to save face with the ACA T20 Cup title, Kenya coach Onyango will be hoping for improved fielding and batting by his men.
Kenya’s disastrous batting and fielding were laid bare in the Africa Regional qualifiers, where Uganda were brilliant in all areas.
Heading into the ACA T20 Cup final, Kenya are unbeaten in four matches. Kenya defeated Sierra Leone and Ghana by eight wickets each before flooring Botswana by 40 runs in Pool “B” matches.
In Pool “A”, after losing by two runs to Rwanda, Uganda defeated Malawi and Mozambique by seven wickets and 51 runs, respectively.
On Monday against Malawi in the semi-final, where Kenya won the toss and elected to bat first, middle-order batsman Neil Mugabe guided coach Onyango’s side to victory with 56 runs from 42 balls. He steadied Kenya’s ship with his superb batting as they set a target of 138 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs of their innings.
With rain having delayed Malawi’s innings, it was reduced to five overs with a target of 45 runs. Malawi hit 39 runs for the loss of two wickets.
