Baby Cricket Cranes finally off the mark at the U-19 World Cup Qualifiers

U-19 World Cup Qualifiers | Uganda U-19 v Sierra Leone U-19 | Match Summary

• Sierra Leone 119 all out
• Uganda 122/5
• Uganda won by 5 wickets

The Baby Cricket Cranes finally got off the mark at the U-19 World Cup Qualifiers in Nigeria with a comfortable five-wicket win against Sierra Leone.

The win eases some pressure on the Ugandans, who lost their first two games, leaving them on the brink of relegation from the top flight of Junior Cricket in Africa.

Gerald Olipa continued his good form with the toss; he won his third toss and elected to bowl first. Sierra Leone was pegged back with the slow bowling options of Ali Balidawa and Aziz Tandia to leave them 13/4, but they put on a recovery that dug them out of a hole to be bowled out for 119 inside 48 overs.

Balidawa was outstanding with figures of 3/11 in his quota of 10 overs and also claimed the Player of the Match award.

In the run chase, Olipa was held back with Richard Sohera and Devansh Patel opening the batting for Uganda. The new opening partnership put on 30 runs together. Olipa entered at number three and he contributed 20, but a mini-collapse nearly derailed the run chase before Jonathan Nyiro and Aziz Tandia managed to knock off the deficit and ensure the win for Uganda.

The win also served as some small revenge for Uganda which had lost to Sierra Leone at the previous qualifiers in Tanzania two years ago.

Uganda will need this momentum when they take on Namibia the very next day as they play for their survival in Division I.

Next Game: Uganda U-19 v Namibia U-19

Date: Wednesday, April 2

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