The Ugandan spinner Henry Ssenyondo produced a devastating bowling spell to help his team successfully defend their Africa T20 Cup title after beating Kenya by 91 runs at Willowmoore Park on December 19.
Ssenyondo, named the man of the match, was outstanding, utilising the conditions to his advantage. He was unplayable to the Kenya batters and especially lethal in the ninth over as he ended the match with 4/20.
Unlike most of his teammates, he was not carried away with the bounce off the surface, but pitched the ball full, looking to spin it.
The 30-year-old was called to the crease in the ninth over and with his first ball, he got rid of Neil Mugabe, caught at the gully by Bilal Hassan.
He made it two out of two when he dismissed Collins Obuya for a duck, stumped by wicketkeeper Cyrus Kakuru.
The spinner got his third wicket with the fourth ball of the over, getting rid of Tanzeel Shiekh for a duck.
Ssenyondo took the game away from the Kenyans in the 11th over when he dismissed Irfan Karim, who was Kenya’s mainstay. Karim went out for a perfect 30 off 33 deliveries and having scored four boundaries.
Set 187 to win and required to score over 10 runs an over, the Kenyans produced a dreary batting display. They began their run chase steadily as they scored 37 runs in the power play, losing only the wicket of Rushab Patel, who miscued a Dinesh Nakrani delivery, caught by Kenneth Waiswa at mid-wicket.
Nelson Odhiambo (11 from 12) followed Patel to the shed after edging a Waiswa delivery, caught at cover by Uganda captain Brian Masaba in the eighth over.
The rest of the Kenyan innings were a procession from the middle to the dugout with Ssenyondo and Nakrani’s spin, swing, and length, proving too difficult to deal with.
Nakrani took three scalps and Hassan helped himself to two wickets, dismissing Peter Koech and Vishil Patel, respectively, with two successive thunderous balls that rattled the stumps as Uganda became the first team to win and defend the title.
Sent in to bat first, Uganda found themselves in trouble early on as they lost three wickets inside the first six overs.
After posting three successive boundaries in the first over, Simon Ssesazi (14 off 5) was caught at mid-off by Koech from Lucas Ndandason as he tried to go for a maximum.
Roger Mukasa followed as Odhiambo trapped him in the third over. After a few short balls, the bowler went long, trapping the right-hander in front for nine.
Last year’s hero, Riazat Ali Shah, was dismissed for four by Koech as the champions posted 44-3 in the power play.
After that, Uganda took control of the middle overs with Robison Obuya scoring 57 off 37 before his dismissal in the 13th over.
But the damage was already done as the Ugandans scored at will in the last five overs to reach 186-8, setting their opponents a mammoth 187 to win.
“I am super proud of the boys because I know how exhausted they are. It has been a long two months, so to go out there and be clinical, with the bowlers backed by the fielders, it was good to see. Now we can go home and rest” said Ugandan skipper Masaba.
Let down by their fielding, the Kenyan captain, Ndandason, explained they needed to improve on their aggression and approach.
“We allowed them to score lots of boundaries. After 10 overs they were in the 70s, but from there we made mistakes they took advantage of. But it happens. It is part of the game,” he said.
Botswana’s Karabo Molatlhwa was the player of the series after scoring 122 runs and taking eight wickets, while Karim was the tournament’s best batsman with 124 runs.
Ssenyondo was the best bowler after taking 16 wickets.
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