Uganda proved too good against Zimbabwe’s U25 team as they beat the side by 9 wickets on Friday to win their fourth game of the Zimbabwe tour.
Jackson Ogwang‘s team played in an unfamiliar conditions as they played under floodlights, but that did not prevent them them from exacting their dominance against the U25 select side of this Test playing nation.
They were made to bowl first when Zimbabwe won the toss, and they took advantage of the decision.
Inside powerplay, the Cricket Cranes had plucked three of Zimbabwe’s wickets thanks to their openers Bilal Hassun and Jonathan Ssebanja.
The duo each picked a wicket in the first four Overs and the other wicket was a Roger Mukasa run out off Bilal’s bowling.
Bilal ended the night with four wickets which earned him the Man of the Match award, his second such award in this series.
Rizu makes his long awaited return
All-rounder Riazat Ali Shah made his return to the team in this game. Since losing his passport in July, a thing that prevented him from taking part in Uganda’s Bilateral Series against Namibia, ‘Rizu’ had not featured for the team.
In fact, despite being named in the final 15-man squad for the World Cup Qualifiers, Rizu had not travelled with the team due to delay in securing a passport replacement, however, the 25-year-old was able to join the team on Thursday.
Rizu on his return did not have to bat as Uganda needed only their top order to get the job done in their chase, but he recorded two wickets.
The Cricket Cranes used seven bowlers in this game; Henry Ssenyondo was the other that got a wicket.
Like hinted above, Simon Ssesazi (26), Ronak Patel (62 not out) and Mukasa (32 not out) made the chase easy for Uganda as they secured the win with 5.6 Overs left of play.
It’s Uganda’s fourth win in this warm up tour. They return to action on Saturday against the same opponent before rounding off their tour with another game against Takashinga on Sunday.
The purpose of this tour is to fine tune the Cricket Cranes ahead of the crunch ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers that will involve Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria and hosts Namibia between 22-30 November.
Courtesy Photos
