Cricket Cranes’ T20 World Cup dream ends with first-ever defeat to Tanzania

ICC T20 World Cup Qualifiers | Uganda vs. Tanzania

• Tanzania 128/6
• Uganda 119/8
• Uganda lost by 9 runs

Cricket Cranes’ T20 World Cup dream was ended by a hostile pace bowling spell from Tanzania at the death by Player of the Match, Khalid Juma.

Uganda has never been on the wrong side of the result against Tanzania and what a moment for Tanzania because the win means they qualify for the semifinals and keep their World Cup dream alive.

Uganda won the toss and elected to bowl, a strange decision considering that they batted first against a stronger opponent like Zimbabwe.

Tanzania was aggressive inside the powerplay and took on Cosmas Kyewuta and Juma Miyagi but some tidy bowling in the middle overs dragged the game back in favour of Uganda. They managed to limit Tanzania to just 128/6 in their 20 overs, a score that was below par on a nice wicket.

Uganda raced out of the blocks with Ronald Lutaaya and Raghav Dhawan leading the charge and at 80/2, they were firmly in charge of the run chase.

However, things unravelled for Uganda, coupled with some brilliant bowling from Tanzania with a major collapse leading to a historic win for Tanzania.

Khalid Juma (4/13) turned the game for Tanzania with his line and length troubling the Ugandan tail and set up a tense finish.

With 15 runs required off the final six balls, Cosmas Kyewuta and Joseph Baguma tried in vain to put away Ally Mpeka Kimote and they eventually ran out of balls with nine runs still required for the win.

The loss effectively knocked Uganda out of the World Cup qualifiers. Uganda will be hoping for a win against Botswana so that a bad situation doesn’t get worse with relegation.

Uganda will play Botswana in their final Group B fixture on Tuesday.

A disappointing campaign ending for Uganda in the most disappointing of ways but a reality check for Uganda that everyone else is improving.