Poor Lions’ batting hands Damani win

JAZZ SAFARI NATIONAL MEN LEAGUE
DIVISION ONE
Aziz Damani 210/6 [254] Ceylon Lions 158/10
(Damani won by 95 runs via D/L)
Tornado Bee vs. Strikers
(Match washed out in Entebbe)
Premier 148/10 [144] Challengers 147/3
(Challengers won by 7 wickets via D/L)
DIVISION TWO
Budo 90/10 [84] SKLPS 85/7
(SKLPS won by 3 wickets via D/L)
Tornado 253/10 Nile 32/10
(Tornado won by 221 runs)
DIVISION THREE
Aziz Damani Dev’t Team 138/9 Jinja SS 87/10
(Aziz Damani Dev’t Team won by 51 runs)

Kampala. If their start is anything to go by, Aziz Damani Cricket Club could wrap up the Jazz Safari National League title much earlier than expected.
Last year, they clinched it with a game to spare. But following their fourth straight win at the weekend, champagne could be on the ice way too early. With nearly all teams having dropped points in two of four matches, Damani made it four in four after they coasted to a 95-run victory over Ceylon Lions at Lugogo Oval on Sunday.

“The team is in some fine form,” Damani skipper Ghulam Hunzai said moments after they had bowled out Lions for a paltry 158 runs in 31.1 overs after the failed pursuit of 254.

Rain-shortened games
That target had been revised via Duckworth and Lewis Method (D/L) and Lions needed to meet in 36 overs after rain hampered Damani’s innings where they had set 210-6.
Here, wicket-keeper Fred Achelam (27 off 43) had covered up for a slow start where Emmanuel Hasahya made only four runs.

Also, Saud Islam, the scorer of a century the previous weekend, returned a duck. Riazat Shah saved face when he made eight boundaries and four sixes in an unbeaten half-ton of 80 runs off 64 balls.
“The key thing helping us is that we are backing up each other. When one fails, another picks up,” said Hunzai who added 37 off 30 balls.

As club CEO Siva Koti watched, Damani faced one big problem in Lions’ batting line-up - Simon Ssesazi. Indeed, the left-hander turned out to a big thorn in Damani’s flesh as he made a 77-run-a-ball comprising four boundaries and seven maximums. But Ssesaazi’s show was not backed up by his teammates with whom, only Varinder Singh (25 off 12) and brother Lawrence Ssempijja (19 off 36) earned double figures.
It is left-arm seamer Charles Waiswa (3/28), Islam (2/5) and Shah (3/29) who piled frustration on the Lions’ roar, the latter taking home the man-of-match honour.

While the encounter between Strikers and Tornado Bee was washed out in Entebbe, Steven Wabwose’s 72 off 67, three catches and a stamping guided Challengers to a seven-wicket victory over Premier in Kyambogo.

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