- Tanzania 121/7 in 20 Overs (Saum Mtae 39, Nasra Mohamedi 20)
- Uganda 120/5 in 20 Overs (Esther Iloku 49, Rita Musamali 27)
- Tanzania won by 1 run
The Victoria Pearls suffered a heartbreaking start to their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier campaign, losing by just one run to Tanzania at the High Performance Centre in Windhoek on Sunday.
Chasing 122, Uganda came close but fell short at 120/5 in 20 overs, despite a spirited late push from Rita Musamali, who scored an unbeaten 27 off 15 balls at a strike rate of 180.
Earlier, Tanzania set 121/7, with Saum Mtae hitting 39 off 40 balls and Nasra Mohamedi adding (20) after Uganda had won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Uganda’s bowling effort was led by Consy Aweko (1/15) and Immaculate Nakisuuyi (0/14), while Stephanie Nampiina and Janet Mbabazi picked up a wicket each.
In Uganda’s reply, Esther Iloku top-scored with (49), supported by Nakisuuyi’s (22), but Tanzania’s bowlers, especially Sophia Jerome (2/8) and Perice Kamunya (1/23), held their nerve in the tense final overs to edge the win.
Despite the result, Uganda had postives on and off the oval to look to as Naume Jane Amongin wore the Victoria Pearls jersey for the first time, Aweko reached a major 100 caps milestone and Iloku being named Player of the match accolade.
Uganda will look to bounce back when they face Rwanda on Monday, September 1, in their second group match of the qualifiers.
