Kyobe, Nsubuga lead Sikh Union to T20 glory in Kenya

Kyobe steadied the Sikh Union ship with a solid knock of 31 and fell with just six runs required for victory at Nairobi Gymkhana Oval on Saturday afternoon. COURTESY PHOTO

KAMPALA- Cricket Cranes mainstays Arthur Kyobe and Frank Nsubuga made hay on their semi-professional stints as they led their Kenyan side Sikh Union to a four-wicket win over Swamibapa in the Harilal Shah Memorial Twenty20 final at the Nairobi Gymkhana Oval on November 12.

Swamibapa captain Lameck Onyango won the toss and his openers Alex Obanda (55 off 47) and Naman Patel (21 off 21) went about their job of building a solid base clinically as they batted first.

But Ugandans, whose Kenyan franchise had endured a lukewarm season, raised the bar to ensure their team had something to cheer about in the season-ender.

First Kyobe, made a difficult running catch from long-on look easy fodder off the bowling of Tarandeep Singh to get rid of Patel with scoreboard reading 43 for 1 after 7.4 overs.

Then Nsubuga helped Abdul Rehman snare his first of the evening with a sharp catch from deep mid-wicket to dismiss the dangerous Nehemiah Ngoche Odhiambo for just four runs at 74 for2 in 10.2 overs.

The Ugandan off-spinner opened the bowling and his figures of 1 for 17 in 4 were a perfect foil for Rehman who destroyed the favourites batting line-up with superb figures of 5 for 21 as Swamibapa fell from 105 for 5 to 121 all out in 19.1 overs.

“Our bowlers didn’t give away too much,” said Kyobe, who shone with a match-winning knock of 31 off 35 balls at No.3 as Sikh Union sailed over the line with nine balls to spare.

“They made sure we would chase a target that was within our reach. We were under no pressure because we needed just six per over. I played at three because they had some left-arm spinners that were troubling our right hand batsmen. It is always good to go across the border and return victorious. It augurs well for our reputation and keeping in mind that we have big tournaments coming up.”

Nadeem Ahmed played anchor role for Kyobe with a 30 as Jadavji Bhimji 2/20 and Saumil Patel 1/21 tried to put the brakes on the chase in vain.

Harilal Shah Memorial T20 Tournament
Results – Final
Swamibapa 121/10
Sikh Union 122/6
Sikh Union won by four wickets
Upcoming Tournaments
Nov. 18-25: Takashinga-Kenya Tour Series
Feb – June 2017: ICC WCL Division Three