Cricket Cranes head coach Steve Tikolo was the Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) official man-of-the-match after his team Aziz Damani beat Kampala Institute of Cricket Clubs (KICC) in the league on Sunday at Lugogo.

Damani take on whipping boys Patidar at Kyambogo this Sunday. While it is peculiar for coaches to win such awards, Tikolo also plays for Damani, a platform that has given him a chance to practice what he preaches.

Tikolo scored 23 runs not out; picked three wickets albeit losing 14 runs. As a result, Damani scored 143/3 in 32.5 overs, to beat KICC’s set score of 141/10 in 27.5 overs.

Tikolo has done this for the last four successive weeks. In the first, an encounter with Tornado Bees that Damani lost, Tikolo scored 22 runs and picked two wickets.

Against Challengers, he scored 24 runs while in their third fixture against Charity, he posted 12 runs not out and picked one wicket in 3.3 overs.

KICC’s Davis Arinaitwe said: “Watching the coach applying himself in the exact way he trains us is impressive. It is a real lesson. Seeing him play makes you learn how to play for long on the crease, to build an impressive innings.”

Mwiri cricket club manager Rodney Mugisha said that by Tikolo playing in the league, it can help him learn the players. But others think the country is better served by a coach who monitors players, and not a coach/player.

But Mugisha said that for 35-year-old Tikolo to be competitive, it shows how weak the league is. Tikolo has thus used his Saturdays to organize trial games for his internationals.

For example, Tikolo noted that in the last few weekends he has played at the oval in Kyambogo,  he observed that many young players lack the tact to play in dew and breeze  conditions.

Finding a solution to that will be top of Tikolo’s agenda before the Cricket Cranes venture out later this year for international engagements. But in the meantime, he is enjoying the competition in the league.

However, for someone, who finally retired from international cricket in 2014, after playing at four World Cups between 1996 and 2011, during which was a number of retirement retractions, Tikolo maintains a hunger for success. But he remains a seasoned competitor, a trait he wants his players to have.

Sunday@10am:
KICC v Nile@Lugogo
Patidar v Damani@Kyambogo
Bees v Kutchi@Entebbe
Wanderers v Africa@Budo
Jinja SS v Strikers@Jinja

jovi@observer.ug