Cricket Cranes Out for World Cup Slot

As the Cricket Cranes embark on a crucial tour to South Africa which is their final destination before they storm Zimbabwe for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers, their fans will be keen on a dream return to the World Cup, and if their final trial game held in Entebbe on Wednesday is anything to go by, the fans ought to be enthused.

Following the team’s return from a 12-day bootcamp in Jinja four days ago, they were flagged off this morning in Lugogo in the presence of the Association chairman, Jackson Kavuma.

The team’s final act in the country was that Wednesday game which pitted Riazat Ali Shah’s Team Yellow against Juma Miyaji’s Team Red.

The two teams were set up in a way that Abhay Sharma- the head coach of the side wanted to continue testing his new batters against his core bowlers. From what transpired, the new batters who were playing for Team Yellow came out supreme which for a Ugandan fan, should be music to the ear.

Gaurav Tomar and Sumeet Verma, the new batsmen were confirmed as Ugandan players before the Pearl of Africa tournament that was held in Entebbe two months ago, however, their inclusion in the team came after that tourney- reason? The gaffer did not want to expose his new assets to especially Namibia who will be a direct rival in Zimbabwe.

Since the duo joining the team, the Cricket Cranes have had four trial games. Three of those have had the quartet of Miyaji, Cosmas Kyewuta, Henry Ssenyondo and Joseph Baguma face off against the duo which simply implies that the coach is having these two contend with the best available.

Now, Miyaji and co may not be at the same level as the bowlers these batters will face in Zimbabwe, but they provide adequate test.

The first time the two took on the four was eleven days ago, that game ending in a tie (162/5 for Team Yellow and 162/10 for Team Red) . Verma owned the field that day as he smashed an unbeaten century of 105 off 63 balls. He added 38 off 44 in their third game, but on Wednesday, when they were playing their final game before their South Africa Voyage, Gaurav grabbed all the attention as he inspired his team to 201/9.

The 34-year-old powered to a 90 off 54. That knock came after two solid partnerships he had with his fellow opener Shrideep Mangela who scored 30 off 17 and Verma who hit 51 off 30 at No.4.

The two seem to have taken a definite form in the team, and with the consistency that Raghav Dhawan, Robinson Obuya and Mangela have shown with the runs lately, a return to the World Cup shan’t be far fetched.

Dhawan and Obuya- opened for Team Red. They similarly anchored their innings in same fashion despite losing the battle. Obuya’s 55 off 30 was unmatched in terms of strike rate. Dhawan on the other hand powered to a 73 off 51.

The Cricket Cranes have oftentimes had to rely on Dinesh Nakrani, Alpesh Ramjani and their captain Ali Shah for runs, but if the display of Dhawan, Mangela and Obuya at the July tournament and the now positivity from Verma and Gaurav is anything to go by, the former trio’s efforts may turn out to be just supplementary.

The struggles for Uganda are well known to be from batting. If this department is sorted as it currently appears, Uganda will be among the 20 teams in India and Sri Lanka where the 10th edition of the T20 World Cup will be held come 2026.

The Cricket Cranes defied odds in 2023 when they beat among others Zimbabwe- the first full member nation they were facing- to make history by qualifying for their first ever World Cup.

They will head into these qualifiers- that will happen between 26th September to 4th October- well aware that for them to have a chance of repeating history, they will have to finish in the top two of their group-Group B- which has them pitted against Zimbabwe ranked 12th globally, Tanzania and Botswana.

Only the top two from the two groups will advance to the semifinals, the other group-Group A- having Namibia, Kenya, Nigeria and Malawi.

The two teams that make the final will book their World Cup spots as only two spots are available from this qualifier. Uganda and Namibia were the two teams that qualified last time out, Uganda doing so at the expense of Zimbabwe who they beat by 5 wickets to clinch the final qualifying place.

In South Africa, the Cricket Cranes will be involved in three games against Titans and Lions- some of South Africa’s top franchises- between 14 and 17 September. They will depart South Africa for Zimbabwe on Thursday 18.

The travelling squad

Riazat Ali Shah (Cpt), Frank Nsubuga, Dinesh Nakrani Maganlal, Henry Ssenyondo, Alpesh Ramjani Ravilal, Robinson Obuya, Raghav Dhawan, Juma Miyaji, Shrideep Mangela, Cosmas Kyewuta, Sumeet Verma, Gaurav Tomar, Cyrus Kakuru, Joseph Baguma and Innocent Mwebaze..