Ugandans continue to drop Division II cricket like it’s hot

Mukobe batting for Cricket Cranes in Namibia last week. He retired after the tournament. photo by ICC

What you need to know:

The outlook, dear reader, is grim because instead of surgically addressing the heart of the matter, UCA has always chosen to go for quick fixes. In a bid to paper over cracks, players with good, but by no means striking, List A careers have been courted (Phile-mon Selowa and Abram Ndhlovu) alongside high profile coaches (Johan Rudolph and Peter Kirsten). Results though haven’t been forthcoming. Don’t expect a change in the modus operandi too soon though

Here we go again! Uganda is grappling with yet another relegation (one that came at the cost of featuring in the 2015-17 ICC World Cricket League Championship) after failing to place in the top four echelons of the just concluded ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament in Windhoek, Namibia.
It won’t be until 2017 that the Cricket Cranes get another crack at gaining promotion to Division Two.
Cyclical failures have, however, led some in the Ugandan cricket fraternity to view the glass as half empty. Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong and Nepal have all made a fist of qualifying and staying in Division Two. On its part, Uganda has bitten the dust on multiple occasions. So much for once bitten, twice shy!

Shy? There will be nothing to be shy about after the recent failure…no hanging one’s head in shame. No nothing! Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) will attempt to reinvent the wheel, and life will go on, if only punctuated by those recurrent tragic cycles. UCA’s actions will then continue to have a domino effect of loss perpetuating loss, with the resulting bureaucratic inertia keeping Uganda in the lower reaches of cricket.

The outlook, dear reader, is grim because instead of surgically addressing the heart of the matter, UCA has always chosen to go for quick fixes. In a bid to paper over cracks, players with good, but by no means striking, List A careers have been courted (Phile-mon Selowa and Abram Ndhlovu) alongside high profile coaches (Johan Rudolph and Peter Kirsten). Results though haven’t been forthcoming. Don’t expect a change in the modus operandi too soon though.

Conventional wisdom points to UCA attempting to remedy the game from the grass-roots. This would insulate the cricketing fraternity from bearing the brunt of so many miscarriages. The Schools Development Programme (SDP) has for long been due a fresh coat of paint.

Talent coming through is not really up to scratch. Startlingly, the changes that UCA has come up with on SDP’s flagship, the Schools Cricket Week, have merely served to stymie the game. Since its inception the Schools Cricket Week was largely played off a 25 overs apiece format.

Five overs were knocked off in the not-so-distant past. The tournament is nowa-days played off a Twenty20 format, the shortest version of the game that always seems to bring out a gung-ho, if brash, streak in cricketers.

It’s a format, which despite turning on the charm in the stands, isn’t what up-and-coming cricketers should use to hone their skill. Yet even Schools Cricket Week qualifiers are played off this high octane format. Now, one might call it nitpicking, but Twenty20 cricket doesn’t do cricket upstarts a world of good. I would rather a year-long schools tournament using the 50-over format takes root.

It’s not just the up-and-coming players that have taken to Twenty20 cricket. The format has permeated the very psyche of Ugandan cricket. Although debatable, I strongly be-lieve the end result of this obsession with Twenty20 cricket has been poor mental application, failure to play with a straight bat (poor shot selection) and inability to rotate strike. Three-day cricket would no doubt remedy these ailments.

Elsewhere, if SDP products were groomed to learn how to bide their time from the get go, chances are that they could author scripts that are markedly different from their pre-decessors’ a decade from now. This will call for a sustained drive to coach coaches, and possibly eschew T20 cricket — for now. Its knack for entertainment notwith-standing, Twenty20 cricket has proven to be quite counterproductive for Associate na-tions such as Uganda. The sooner they come to that realisation, the better.

Why national golf team qualifiers are a double-edged sword

It promises to be one of those eventful years for the Uganda Golf Union (UGU). A jam-packed calendar has the All Africa Zone VI golf championships, which takes place at Uganda Golf Club from April 14-19; two distinct tournaments in Zambia, which include the Africa Amateur Junior golf championships in May and President’s Cup in October; helped along by the East Africa Golf Challenge, which Uganda will be looking to defend in Nyarutarama, an affluent suburb within the Rwandan capital of Kigali.

While the action will leave golf fans on the edge of the precipice, UGU will be hoping its methodical approach yields dividends.

Progress towards meritocracy has been relentless when it comes to piecing together the national golf team. For the second year running, qualifiers have been held with golfers who finish in the top 20 making the grade. Last year, the qualifiers claimed a number of prize scalps, including that of Peter Ssendaula.

The two-time Open champion skipped this year’s qualifiers together with erstwhile Team Uganda captain, Phillip Kasozi, and Robert Oluba, who has always been quietly effective in national colours.
Team Uganda coach, Amos Kamya, has two wildcard picks, and it remains to be seen which of the three big names he overlooks or if he chooses any of them at all.

The mosaic of the national golf team qualifiers has gotten observers weighing up pros and cons. One obvious plus is that golfers are forced not to rest on their laurels seeing as past reputations count for nought.

Just ask the short-fused Willy Deus Kitata who had to literally fold his sleeves and dig himself out of a rut en route to finishing 14th at this year’s qualifiers. It was an even more nail-biting experience for Adolf Muhumuza who just about placed 20th. Abbey Bagalana and Becca Mwanja were not as fortunate. They bowed out with such a whimper!
The downside of these qualifiers, which at times have something of a cinematic feel about them, is that they aren’t spread out over a protracted period.

Just 72 holes of golf is usually played to determine what for all intents and purposes is Team Uganda’s criti-cal mass. This is in stark contrast to the points system both the US and Europe use to determine their Ryder Cup players. Points are picked up over a much spread out period. This offers players a fair shot and is invariably imbued with meritocracy.

That, though, is not to take anything away from UGU. That there are qualifiers at all is a good thing in itself. Baby steps is what some choose to call them.