Easter T20 Series
Matchday 1: Results
- Morning: Uganda W 103/5 beat USA W 102/8 by 1 run
- Afternoon: Uganda W 100 all out beat Uganda A 50 all out by 50 runs
Matchday 2: April 10
- Morning: Uganda v Uganda A – 10 am
- Afternoon: Uganda A v USA – 2 pm
Uganda’s Victoria Pearls rode their luck in the morning game of the Easter T20 Series against the visiting USA team, hanging on in the final over to defend 13 runs.
The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first. Janet Mbabazi was in the company of a new opening partner with Stephanie Nampiina, given a promotion up the order but she didn’t last long, departing for a duck.
Mbabazi rode her luck in a laboured 23 off 27 balls, but Esther Iloku anchored the innings with an unbeaten 40 runs off 38 balls.
The USA were rocked immediately in the run chase with Irene Mutonyi claiming two big scalps up front that left the visitors reeling at 14/2 inside two overs.
A steady partnership got the visitors through the mid overs, and at the halfway stage, the visitors were 47/2 until some needless run outs pegged them back.
However, in a show of defiance, Gargie Borgle (23) and the Captain Aditiba Chudasam (18 not out) took the game deep and put pressure on the bowling to set up a nice finish with the hosts holding their nerve to win by one run.
It was a warning sign to the hosts that they won’t have anything easy in the series.
In the afternoon, the Uganda A side won the toss and chose to field first. Janet Mbabazi led from the front with a great knock of 42 before carelessly going across the line and missing out on a well-deserved half-century.
The only support came from Esther Iloku (20 not out), with the junior team restricting their seniors to only 100 runs inside 20 overs.
In the run chase, the class of the senior team showed with the early run out of Shadia Nabulime without any run on the board, sparking a collapse. Only Captain Phiona Khulume (14) and Asumin Akurut (13) got into double figures as Sarah Akiteng claimed a hat-trick and picked up a fiver (5/6) as the seniors wrapped up a comprehensive win.
The Victoria Pearls picked up two wins on Matchday 1, but they will know they got away with a bad performance in the game against the USA.
Action continues at the Lakeside Oval with the series ending on Wednesday, April 15.
