No wonder the whole team was elated, after they finished second, behind Zimbabwe in the Africa T20 women’s qualifiers on December 17. These qualifiers were held at the Entebbe cricket oval from December 7. While qualification was the thing of their dreams, the reality remains that work has to be put in if the women are to replicate what their male counterparts achieved recently by qualifying for the global showpiece.
The Women’s T20 World Cup will be in Bangladesh between September and October next year. To get there, as Davis Karashani, the former men’s national team captain, said, is still a long way.
He explained: “The team has to be in the nets now with the foresight that our batting has to be better if we are to outwit the likes of Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Ireland and Thailand in Dubai.”
Karashani added that during the games in Entebbe, the team did not vary its shots and strike direction much. In cricket terms, the team struggled to bat the ball off stump oftentimes. That is a weakness that Zimbabwe, who looked well grilled, exploited, limiting Uganda’s runs in the final to just 79 all out. Zimbabwe posted 84 for the loss of four wickets and they were home and dry.
Incidentally, the last time Uganda competed at the T20 global qualifiers, was back in 2018. It did not go well for them in Holland at the time. This was after they had won their maiden Africa qualifiers in 2017, beating the home side, Zimbabwe in the final, then.
Based on that background, Consy Aweko and her teammates such as Kevin Awino and Janet Mbabazi, who were part of the team then, should know what to expect; that batting deep and setting the right fields to thwart opponents is key. In Entebbe, Uganda preferred to bowl first usually in order to limit its opponents.
It is a tactic that worked, following the impressive bowling by the likes of Ritah Musamali. This pleased the team’s coach Lawrence Ssematimba, who feels that the collection is progressing well. But his critics feel he needs to improve the team in a manner, where they can bat deep and notch up unassailable leads.
For example, against Tanzania in the semis, Uganda was worryingly 6 for 3, before posting a 99. Tanzania was 41 without loss as they chased, but they crumbled and only posted 89. Some observers feel Uganda were really lucky, and without addressing some of the team’s shortfalls, Dubai may be very hostile in the literal sense.
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