Baby Cricket Cranes coach searches for combinations

National junior men’s cricket team coach Ivan Thawithemwira is looking to find the right batting combinations for his side before the ICC Under-19 World Cup bowls off in the West Indies on Saturday.

The Baby Cricket Cranes’ preparations ahead of a third appearance at the global teenagers’ tournament were checked thoroughly on Monday by a 107-run warm-up defeat to Scotland at the Everest Cricket Club Ground in Georgetown, Guyana.

The defeat after Uganda’s innings folded in 31.2 overs, mirrored the country’s batting Achilles and it is something Thawi wants to tackle. “We managed to see and assess where we are at,” he said. “We also saw some good things coming through, the fielding session, the first innings was good. Boys bowled with good discipline.”

The batting, we saw what we need to address and come the next games, we will try to rectify them.”

Despite Juma Miyagi trapping Oliver Davidson for lbw (leg before wicket) on the second delivery, Ugandan skipper Pascal Murungi’s decision to bowl first wasn’t backed up well.

The East Africans let Scotland get to a safe 218-9 total thanks to a half-century of 50 runs from Charlie Tear whereas Jack Jarvis made 33.

The chase seemed to start well when Ronald Lutaaya and Ronaldo Opio shared 39 runs after the first eight overs but they quickly fell to 54-4 in 15 overs.

The machine’s efficiency continued to drop as the scoreboard read 70-7 after 22 overs as the Scots ran riot. Davidson picked 3/14 and three maidens in six overs while Jamie Cairns was equally stellar with 3/15 in five overs.

Now Thawi and his assistant Robinson Turinawe may seek to tweak their batting line-up when Uganda faces Sri Lanka in the second warm-up at the Providence Stadium in Guyana ahead of their Group B opener against Ireland on Saturday.

“We are just going to try and see combinations still, as much as we would like to win,” Thawi stated. “But the practice games are a good platform to see where we are at so we will try and see what more we can exploit before we play Ireland,” he added.a will have members of their contingent, who are not fully vaccinated, take their own Covid-19 test today ahead of tomorrow’s game.

“The batting, we saw what we need to address and come the next games, we will try to rectify them.”

 Despite Juma Miyagi trapping Oliver Davidson for LBW (leg before wicket) on the second delivery, Ugandan skipper Pascal Murungi’s decision to bowl first wasn’t backed up well.

The East Africans let Scotland get to a safe 218-9 total thanks to a half-century of 50 runs from Charlie Tear whereas Jack Jarvis made 33.

 The chase seemed to start well when Ronald Lutaaya and Ronaldo Opio shared 39 runs after the first eight overs but they quickly fell to 54-4 in 15 overs.

 The scoreboard soon read 70-7 after 22 overs as the Scots ran riot. Davidson picked 3/14 while Jamie Cairns was equally stellar with 3/15.  Now Thawi and his assistant Robinson Turinawe may seek to tweak their batting line-up when Uganda face Sri Lanka in the second warm-up at the Providence Stadium in Guyana ahead of their Group B opener against Ireland on Saturday.

 “We are just going to try and see combinations, as much as we would like to win,” Thawi stated. “But the practice games are a good platform to see where we are,” he added.

UGANDA U-19 SQUAD

Pascal Murungi (captain), Isaac Ategeka (vice-captain), Yunus Sowobi, Christopher Kidega, Pius Oloka, Joseph Baguma, Matthew Musinguzi, Ronald Omara, Cyrus Kakuru (wicket-keeper), Brian Asaba, Fahad Mutagana, Ronald Opio, Ronald Lutaaya, Edwin Nuwagaba, Juma Miyagi

UGANDA’S FIXTURES

TODAY’S WARM UP

5pm: Uganda vs. Sri Lanka, Guyana National Stadium

RESULT - MONDAY

Scotland 219/9 Uganda 112

(Scotland won by 107 runs)

GROUP B MATCHES

Jan 15: Ireland vs. Uganda, Everest

Jan 18: South Africa vs. Uganda, Queen’s Park (T&T)

Jan 22: India vs. Uganda, Brian Lara Ground (T&T)

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