Kenya won the grand finale of the Pepsi ICC T20 Division 1 Championship beating local rivals Uganda by 19 runs today (March 1, 2013) in the last of the round robin matches. Both countries ended with 7 wins and 1 defeat, but Kenya’s net run rate (NRR) of +2.517 was better thatn Uganda’s +1.784. So Kenya won this Africa Championship and will face Canada in Dubai in ICC World Cricket League (50-over) action on March 11 and 13, T20 internationals on March 15 and 16, then in the first-class ICC Intercontinental Cup from March 18 through 21.
Opening bat Alex Obanada’s 64 runs from 47 balls formed the base for Kenya’s 156 for five wickets in 20 overs. Collins Obuya chipped in with a useful 40 from 23 balls. Uganda struggled after the dismissal of Deus Muhumuza for 22 in the ninth over. A running total of 60 for three wickets slipped to 74 for six within four overs. A last wicket stand of 30 took Uganda to an ultimate 137 all out. Disappointment for the hosts after the opening day win against Kenya.
Kenya had been “desparate to avoid a repeat humiliating loss to host Uganda” in this concluding match according to Oscar Pilipili in the Kenya Standard. Collins Obuya was quoted as saying “Uganda deserved the victory because we were off colour on that particular day and we need to come back and win the deciding match.” Obuya had a concern that “The batting has not done enough and we need to play better by scoring runs sufficient enough to win the match.” The target of winning that final game was achieved.
In two of Kenya’s wins against what are the weaker opponents in this event, the batting came up with four or five scores in the 20’s and 30’s but nobody going any higher. Something that would be needed in the longer 50-over World Cricket League and 4-day Intercontinental Cup matches.
Two of the four batsmen who scored 200 or more runs in this tournament were Kenyans. Morris Ouma made 233 runs with an average of 33.29 and a highest score of 93. Collins Obuya made 219 runs with a highest score of 50 and an average of 31.29. Uganda’s Arthur Kyobe tallied 221 runs (highest 59, average 31.57) and Karabo Modise of Botswana made 209 (highest 86, average 26.13). Ouma took four catches and made three stumpings as a wicketkeeper.
Tanzania’s Benson Nyaikini headed the wicket takers with 15 disissals, followed by Davis Karashani of Uganda with 14 wickets. Kenya’s James Ngoche took 12 wickets, lef-arm spinner Hiren Varaiya 8 wickets and Lucas Oluoch 7 wickets.
The ICC has announced live video streaming for the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League games at Sharjah between Afghanistan and Scotland on March 8 and 9, as well as the two United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Ireland games at Sharjah on March 18 and 20. The two other sets of matches in this round of the World Cricket League involve Canada against Kenya on March 11 and 13 in Dubai, and conclude with Namibia versus the Netherlands in Windhoek, Namibia, on April 16 and 18.
Canada will host the UAE and the Netherlands during the upcoming home cricket season.
Botswana closed with a 53 run win against Nigeria to take fourth place in the Africa T20 standings, leaving Nigeria in fifth place. Tanzania finished third. Botswana scored 158 for three in 20 overs on Friday, then restricted Nigeria to 105 for nine wickets. Faisal Rana Rasheed made 57 and Karabo Motlhanka 44 lead the charge for Botswana.
Pepsi ICC Africa T20 – Final Standings
Kenya 8 7 1 0 14 +2.517
Uganda 8 7 1 0 14 +1.784
Tanzania 8 3 5 0 6 -1.397
Botswana 8 2 6 0 4 -0.978
Nigeria 8 1 7 0 2 -2.019
The ICC announced the squads for the Kenya – Canada series as:
Kenya (from) – Collins Obuya (captain), Alex Obanda, Tanmay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Irfan Karim, Duncan Allan, Morris Ouma, Nehemiah Odhiambo, James Ngoche, Hiren Varaiya, Elijah Otieno, Nelson Odhiambo, Shem Obado and Ragheb Aga
Canada (from) –Rizwan Cheema (captain), Amarbir Hansra, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Hiral Patel, Nitish Kumar, Junaid Siddiqui, Manninder Aulakh, Henry Osinde, Raza Rehman, Usman Limbada, Damodar Daesrath, Rayyankhan Pathan, Nikhil Dutta and Hamza Tariq
Eddie Norfolk, with thanks to the scorers, CricHQ, ICC Africa, the Uganda Cricket Association, the ICC and Oscar Pilipili of the “Standard” in Kenya. (EN)