Cricket Cranes under heat
Do us proud: Team manager Jackson Kavuma (left) delivering a pep talk to the team in the final session before the team flew out. Photo by Eddie Chicco
What you need to know:
- Cricket. Uganda will undergo training at the Selangor Turf Club before a practice match against friendly foes Bermuda tomorrow.
KUALA LUMPUR.
It is not time to play blame games. But the sweltering conditions are set to pounce and visibly take a toll on the Cricket Cranes players here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League (WCL) Division IV.
The weather is dry and hot, and if the forecast is to be believed, it will likely remain so with the temperatures around 32 degrees Celsius.
If words are not scary for those that stayed back in Uganda as it rains on a daily there recently, it was a surreal moment here when the national men’s cricket team touched down.
Rather than it being the fatigue of enduring a 21-hour voyage – five of them in Dubai for transit and 12 in air aboard the Emirates Airbus – captain Roger Mukasa and Co. felt the searing heat in equal proportions.
It was so hot, they couldn’t blink on disembarking as the moisture in the Ugandan contingent’s eyes had dried. Later in the evening, the humid was intense. Every player was walking around the hotel with an extra bottle of water.
But Charles Waiswa was quick to bounce off any fears that heat exhaustion could play a big factor in Uganda’s mission to finish among the top two nations and earn promotion to Division II from this six-nation global event. “We prepared for this,” said the left-arm opening bowler. “It is not only us going to play under these conditions. Our physio (Habiba Anguyo) and coaches have been preaching to us to take lots of water. We will keep doing so throughout the tourney. Nothing will sway us away from the job at hand.”
Coach Steve Tikolo, who scored a mammoth ton of 147 off 152 balls for Kenya against Bangladesh in the 1997 ICC Trophy final here in Malaysia recalls the conditions were the same but the desire to perform was the driving force behind his knock.
“Many players were giving away their wickets,” recalls the Kenyan legend.
“After settling in and reaching 20, many would give out dolly catches as they would be soaked in immense sweat.
But I strived on and performed. I hope the guys on the team can pick lessons from such an experience. We must all work and endure the pain for the team’s good.”
Team Uganda Itinerary
April 29: Uganda vs. Malaysia
*Kinrara Academy Oval
April 30: Uganda vs. Bermunda
*UKM Oval
May 2: Uganda vs. Singapore
*Royal Selangor Club
May 3: Uganda vs. Denmark
*Kinrara Academy Oval
May 5: Uganda vs. Jersey
*UKM Oval
