Kenya drew first blood in the East African affair that involved themselves and Uganda as they beat Lawrence Mahatlane’s team by 89 runs on Saturday at the Continental Cup T20-Africa ongoing in Nairobi.
Both sides were victors in their opening games played yesterday, but Kenya proved too good for their fiercest rival on all fronts on Saturday.
Kenya captained by Rakep Patel first tore Uganda apart in their innings, with 41-year-old Collins Obuya reminding their opponents of his class. Obuya knocked an unbeaten 96 off 60 balls, hitting six 6s and eight 4s.
His partnership with Rushab Patel destroyed Uganda’s bowlers, and when Frank Nsubuga bowled out Rushab (25), Rakep came in to continue from where the opener had stopped.
The Kenyans made sure to make good use of the Gymkhana ground as they blew away the Ugandan attack from the onset. It was a disappointing evening for the entire bowling Ugandan unit aside from Nsubuga who picked two wickets and bowled the only maiden of the game.
The figures were 51 and 44 conceded runs for Riazat Ali Shah and Bilal Hassan respectively and 32 and 28 for Dinesh Nakrani and Henry Senyondo respectively.
Kenya took the same spirit to Uganda’s innings, and despite Uganda’s leading run scorer in all formats Roger Mukasa scoring a fast 45, Kenneth Waiswa (22) and Ramjani (20), the Cricket Cranes were bowled out inside the 15th Over.
Kenya’s fielding matched their batting! Of the 10 wickets, seven were catches, and that included the openers Mukasa and Simon Ssesazi who ducked.
Mahatlane’s team had tried to be explosive, but that only worked to their detriment as Shem Ngoche and Viraj Patel proved unbeatable. The two spinners each picked four wickets.
The two excelled with the ball, but it was Obuya who won the Player of the Match award.
The result means Kenya topples Uganda from the table standings. In the morning game, Botswana beat Rwanda by 36 runs.
Kenya will play Botswana tomorrow while Uganda will take on Rwanda.
