Match Result
Wanderers 150 all out 37.5
Kutchi Tigers 143 all out 37.2
Wanderers won by 7 runs
Sunday, 5th May 2024 was another day in the Uganda Cricket Association Premier League as Division One teams were in action in a bid to claim the ultimate prize.
And now that Aziz Damani is not part of the pack, the title is wide open.
Wanderers Cricket Club played Kutchi Tigers Cricket Club at Lugogo Oval in a dramatic game that ended in a seven-run victory for Wanderers.
Since the start of the second season round of the season in late April, Wanderers had not gotten a chance to play a full game because of the weather. Their first game of the round was in Kamengo against Ceylon Lions but a heavy downpour that went on until midday caused abandonment of the game without any of the teams padding up. The ground was unfit for play.
The second game played on 1st May against Nyakasura at Lugogo was cut short by the heavy downpour that started when the game was 34 overs shy of 50. Nyakasura had won the toss and elected to bat, posting 89 runs for the loss of 5 in 16.4 overs. Though the rain stopped at about 3 pm, the ground was unfit to continue play leading to the abandonment of the game.
Against Kutchi Tigers last Sunday, there was a slight expectation that it would rain and the game would end in a no result, which would have been perfect for Wanderers given they were facing the log leaders with a lean team.
By 9:00 am, a few minutes to the toss, Wanderers had only seven players at the oval while Kutchi Tigers’ players were already adorned in their jerseys and ready to thrash this disorganized team or so they thought.
Wanderers Team Manager was on the phone making call after call trying to get more players to the grounds as soon as possible. Among the last-minute additions to the team list was former Cricket Cranes and club captain Davis Karashani who along with current captain Ivan Kakande made a big impact on the game’s outcome.
The wicket was favourable for either bowling or batting, basically 50/50. The outfield on the other hand was not that good. It had been raining in Kampala the whole week and Lugogo is a swamp, the outfield had patches of water all around and if you walked on some places longer you felt the water come out from underground.
Well, if it’s your day to be lucky, luck will follow you. Wanderers won the toss and elected to bat first, avoiding the slightly wet outfield for the first Innings.
Amanpreet Singh and Perry Wazombe were the first batters on the crease, putting on 8 runs in the first over; causing hype and excitement to the supporting crowd. However, the skilled Kutchi Tigers bowlers couldn’t let the momentum grow breaking the partnership on the first ball of the second over.
With Amanpreet Singh out, Sharif Sulaiman took the crease but only survived 3 deliveries before he could go out.
Wanderers continued to suffer wickets throughout the power play only posting 59 runs for the loss 5 after 10 overs.
In the 11th Over, Davis Karashani joined Ivan Kakande on the crease and their partnership produced 66 runs to take the score to 125 in the next 17 overs.
After Kakande was caught by Neelakash T in the 26th over, Karashani was left to bat with the backside batters; where his game-reading skill and experience came into play as he pushed to stay longer on the crease to support the batters and help further the score to a reasonable target. He was trapped lbw in the 34th over with the score at 148/7 and the innings ended in the 37th over with the score at 150.
Karashani contribution with the bat was 49 runs from 75 balls (4 boundaries and 2 maximums) and Kakande 35 runs from 70 balls (4 boundaries). Other double-digit batters were Hitesh Prajapti 22(29) and Abu Seguya 11(9).
Kutchi Tigers’ bowlers who kept the heat up throughout the innings were Chintan Kerai 1/12, Dhansuk Jesani 2/56, Ghanshyam Ashani 2/45 and Pushkar Sharma 3/42.
With the target at 151, everyone thought it was going to be a walk in the park for the log leaders who boasted a good batting order from the top through the middle to the tail end.
Well, as earlier said, if it’s your lucky day. Luck will follow you. Wanderers kicked off their bowling on a high with Muhammad Shaaf’s fast bowling taking out Avnish Vekariya on just the second ball of the first over and on the 4th ball he took out Hasin Ashani. Kutchi Tigers’ top order was cleaned out in just 5 overs, the Tigers posting 13 runs for 5 wickets inside the 5 overs.
Batters Dhansuk Jesani and Chintan Kerai quite stabilized the play staying on the crease longer to push the score to 37 runs in 12 overs; as they faced pace, medium and spin bowlers Muhammad Shaaf, Sharif Suleiman and Davis Karashani respectively.
After the loss of the 6th wicket, Kutchi Tigers’ middle order and tail end did their best to press on past the target score, strategically adjusting their strike rotation per ball and forfeiting some singles so as not to suffer unnecessary wickets. On the other side, a determined Wanderers side kept the pressure on the batters, taking out Kerai and Mitul Pindoriya to reduce the batting order to only 2 with a score at 90 and a run rate of 3.33 per over.
With 8 wickets already in the bag for Wanderers, it looked like the job was already done. But the introduction of Ghanshyam Ashani changed everything. With his big-hit batting, he quickly raised the score to 139 runs in just 10 overs. At this point, the tide had turned putting Kutchi Tigers’ at an advantage needing only 11 runs to win in the next 14 over.
Wanderers’ pace bowlers struggled to keep the two batters at bay causing the skipper to change to medium and spin bowlers Sharif Sulaiman and Sandu Riaz. The change paid off as both bowlers produced wickets that cleaned out Kutchi Tigers with the score at 143 runs; giving Wanderers a 7-run win in the end.
Kutchi Tigers’ batters Ghanshyam Ashani 46 runs from 49 balls (4 boundaries and 4 maximums) and Mitul Pindoriya 28 runs from 50 balls (4 boundaries) were instrumental to their total.
Other double-digit runs came from Chintan Kerai 19(50) and Alpesh Hirani 11(28).
Wanderers’ Muhammad Shaaf who picked 5 wickets and a maiden in his 10 overs was named the man of the match.
All wanderers bowlers produced a wicket; Suleiman Sharif 1/54, Sandu Raiz 1/29, Ivan Kakande 1/24 and Davis Karashani 1/60 picked scalps.
The victory leaves Wanderers in 3rd place on the log with 10 points after 8 games while Kutchi keep their spot after 7 games with 11 pts tied with Nyakasura who have played 9 games. Kutchi Tigers is at the top because it has a higher NRR of 1.25 compared to Nyakasura’s 0.24.
The win was a sweet one for Wanderers and a big upset for the log leaders as they suffered their first loss of the season.
The dramatic game officiated by Mathias Kabali a seasoned umpire and rookie Sherry Pearl had a couple of bad calls in the officiation in the two innings that caused uproar among the supporters in both camps as they screamed to the umpires for what they deemed wrong calls in some instances.
However the “bad calls” did not have any effect on the game results.
In the other games on that day; Ceylon Lions beat Patidar by 2 wickets in the Premier League while Avengers beat Rounders by 53 runs in the T20 championship.
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