Thursday , November 7 2024

Kenya dents Uganda’s WCL cricket dreams

Uganda struggled with the bat on Tuesday. PHOTO @ICC

RESULTS #WCL3 
➡ *Kenya ??  178/4 beat Uganda ??  177/9
➡ *Oman ?? 155/7 beat Denmark ?? 154 all out

TOMORROW #WCL3 
➡ Uganda ??  vs Singapore 8.30am
➡ USA  vs Denmark ?? 8.30am

Kampala, Uganda | LOUIS JADWONG | Struggling Kenya still had enough Tuesday to virtually extinguish Uganda’s hopes of snatching a much sought place in World Cricket League Division Two.

Uganda has struggled with the bat, and it showed again as they could only manage 177/9 from their 50 overs despite a half ton from Dinesh Nakrani (50). The Cricket Cranes are yet to score 200 runs in an innings at the ongoing World Cricket League Division Three in Oman.

Having opted to bat first, Uganda again found runs hard to come by at the top of the order as none of their top three scored more than 11.

Skipper Brian Masaba (21), Nakrani and Deusdedit Muhumuza (16) provided some resistance in the middle overs but the spin of Shem Ngoche and seamers of Sachin Bhudia kept the run rate below four.

At 33/3 in response, the Kenyan chase looked in trouble. But skipper Irfan Karim (59 not out) steadied the ship alongside first Rakep Patel (22) and then Nelson Odhiambo (53 not out) as they cruised to a six-wicket victory.

It was Kenya’s first win of the tournament. Kenya, the only ICC Associate member to appear in five successive editions of ICC World Cup – 1996 to 2011 – are in free fall in the world rankings and have since been demoted to division 2 and now division 3.

Uganda went into the game minus key bowler Irfan Afridi, who has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect.

In a statement, ICC said, “Per Article 3.6.2 of the ICC Regulations for the Review of Bowlers Reported with Suspected Illegal Bowling Actions, video footage of Irfan’s bowling spells were provided to the Expert Panel of Mark King and Andrea Cutti, who are members of the ICC Panel of Human Movement Specialists, for their analysis and assessment. The assessment revealed that the amount of elbow extension in Irfan’s bowling action was above the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.”

In their last game, USA complained about Afridi’s action to the umpire, alleging chucking, and he was withdrawn before he could complete his spell.

Up next for Uganda is Singapore, then a final game against Oman. Uganda’ Cricket Cranes only win was against lower ranked Denmark last Friday.

Uganda has won all encounters with Singapore, beating them at their last two World Cricket League matches, by 66 runs in 2017 and a famous 1-run victory in Nepal in 2014.

Oman are favourites to bounce back to Division two, but meanwhile, USA can move back to the top of the standings on Thursday when they take on bottom placed Denmark.

Scores in brief

Kenya won by six wickets at Oman Club Turf 2

Uganda 177/9, 50 overs (Dinesh Nakrani 50, Charles Waiswa 22*t; Sachin Bhudia 2/12, Shem Ngoche 2/13)

Kenya 178/4, 45.5 overs (Irfan Karim 59*, Nelson Odhiambo 53*; Frank Nsubuga 2/28)

Oman won by three wickets at Oman Club Turf 1

Denmark 154 all out, 41.4 overs (Saif Ahmad 41, Anique Uddin 31; Jay Odedra 3/30, Bilal Khan 3/36)

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Oman 155/7, 47.2 overs (Jatinder Singh 73; Bashir Shah 2/29, Saif Ahmad 2/32)

LIVE SCORES (click)

All eyes on 2023 World Cup

The 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Three is an international cricket tournament that is currently taking place in Oman between 9 and 19 November 2018. It forms part of the 2017–22 cycle of the World Cricket League (WCL) which determines the qualification for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.

The top two teams will be promoted to the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament, and the other four teams will play in the 2019–21 ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League.

The 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two is scheduled to take place in April 2019 in Namibia.

Six teams will qualify for the tournament:

➡Papua New Guinea (9th in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier)
➡Hong Kong (10th in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier)
➡Canada (3rd in 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two)
➡Namibia (4th in 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two)
TO BE DETERMINED (1st in 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Three)
TO BE DETERMINED (2nd in 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Three)

Standings so far

Team Played Won Lost Points NNR
Oman 3 3 0 6 0.613
USA 2 2 0 4 2.12
Singapore 2 1 1 2 0.443
Uganda 3 1 2 2 -0.104
Kenya 3 1 2 2 -1.176
Denmark 3 0 3 0 -1.116


Remaining matches

15 November: Singapore v Uganda (Oman Club Turf 1); Denmark v USA (Oman Club Turf 2) 8.30am

16 November: Oman v USA (Oman Club Turf 1); Kenya v Singapore (Oman Club Turf 2)

18 November: Kenya v Denmark (Oman Club Turf 1); Oman v Uganda (Oman Club Turf 2)

19 November: Singapore v USA (Oman Club Turf 1)

SOURCE: ICC.com

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