It was a historic moment as Uganda became the 20th and final team to qualify for the ICC World T20 2024 to be played in the USA and West Indies. They achieved this remarkable feat with a dominating win over Rwanda played at Windhoek, Namibia on 30th November 2023.
Uganda captain Brian Musaba won the toss and decided to field first. It was a superb bowling effort by Uganda bowlers as they kept picking wickets at regular intervals not allowing them to score runs freely and putting enough pressure on Rwanda batters. Alpesh Ramajni, Dinesh Narkani, Henry Ssenyando, and captain Brian Musaba took 2 wickets each to bowl out Rwanda for just 65 in 18.5 overs.
Chasing down a paltry total of 66 runs to win, Ronak Patel and Simon Ssesazi showed intent right from the word go putting pressure on Rwanda bowlers. Ronak and Simon added 31 runs for the opening wicket. Roger Musaka and Simon played their attacking style as they won the match by 9 wickets with 71 balls to spare. Uganda progressed into the main round of the senior-level tournament for the first time.
Uganda’s impressive performance in the tournament
Uganda proved its worth with some stunning performances in the qualifying round. They began the tournament with a dominating 8-wicket win over Tanzania on 22nd November 2023. It was a brilliant bowling effort as they restricted the opponent to 99 for 7 and chased down the target easily with 28 balls to spare.
Uganda suffered their only defeat in the tournament against Namibia. They were bowled out for 114 in 19.4 overs as Namibia chased down the target with 3 overs to spare and 6 wickets remaining.
Uganda produced one of the biggest upsets by defeating test-playing nation Zimbabwe. Their bowlers restricted Zimbabwe to just 136 for 7 in 20 overs. They chased down the target with 5 balls to spare and 5 wickets remaining. They showed their class with a dominating performance over Nigeria. Uganda bowled out Nigeria for just 99 and chased down the target easily.
Uganda produced another lovely performance defeating Kenya by 33 runs. Uganda scored 162 for 5 in the 20 overs and then bowled out Kenya for 129. Uganda finished with 5 wins and finished 2nd place in the points to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2024.
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