Mahatlane impressed by Waiswa, desires consistency

In the end, Uganda's captain Brian Masaba and his opposite Mohammed Rizlan shared the spoils after a 2-2 stalemate in Doha on Tuesday following a four-match Bilateral Series in the Tour of Qatar.

Uganda's time in the Gulf could have yielded a better outcome but significant lines of inconsistency with the bat exposed the Cricket Cranes as they lost the last match by four wickets with 14 balls to spare at the University of Doha for Science and Technology ground.

Neither team manager Jackson Kavuma nor coach Laurence Mahatlane cut a forlorn figure on the windy afternoon. But, there were clear expressions that it could have been better.

“It’s been a tough Tour. I think for this game, we let ourselves down,” Mahatlane said before the simple prize giving ceremony. “Obviously, we didn’t get the Series’ win which we wanted but game time was important," Masaba stated.

This was Uganda's first business in the longer format since missing out on progress at the ICC World Cup Challenge League B back in August. 

The Cricket Cranes a week ago faltered when they lost the Series' opener by 10 runs in pursuit of Qatar's score of 250-8 with seven overs left to play.

Young fast bowler Juma Miyagi, who had conceded 71 runs in his bowling spell was rested and there seemed to be a response from the batsmen in the next two matches.

Uganda ably defended scores of 236-8 and 292-6 to win the Saturday and Sunday matches by an identical margin of 138 runs. In the latter result, Kenneth Waiswa came to life with an unbeaten knock of 101 runs with 11 boundaries and two sixes coming off 96 balls. 

Roger Mukasa had converted too, making a half-ton of 57 runs off 85 balls in a 99-run opening stand with Simon Ssesazi (45 off 51). 

However on Tuesday, when stand-in captain Riazat Ali Shah was asked to bat first, it seemed a tedious task. Ssesazi had seemed to build a strong start with 29 runs off 61 balls but only a 46-run stand between Waiswa (31 off 44) and Shah (22 off 39) stood before the team was bowled out for 155 runs in 38.2 overs with Sandum Chamara picking figures of 4/41.

In the chase, Qatar seemed to be in a spot of bother at 54-4 in 17.2 overs but a match-winning unbeaten stand for the seventh wicket between Kuram Shazad (45* off 99) and Ikramullah Muhamed (39* off 71) got them over the line.

“I think for this game, we let ourselves down. Key lesson is consistency. It was a brilliant Tour overall in terms of lessons to learn,” said Mahatlane.

“We just need to play more games, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. It is important that we continue to gel more as a team and just keep playing cricket,” Masaba noted.

Waiswa's consistency thrust him to the MVP honour after he topped the batting charts with 180 runs in four innings and four wickets. “I thought the way Kenny played, the way (Cyrus) Kakuru played was outstanding,” Mahatlane added.

Left-arm orthodox bowler Henry Ssenyondo topped the bowlers' rankings with nine wickets.

CRICKET CRANES TOUR OF QATAR

TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Uganda 155/10 Qatar 156/6

(Qatar won by 4 wickets)

Uganda 292/6 Qatar 154/10

(Uganda won by 138 runs)

Uganda 236/8 Qatar 98/10

(Uganda won by 138 runs)

Qatar 250/9 Uganda 240/10

(Uganda lost by 10 runs)

Series ended 2-2

TOURNAMENT STATS

BEST BATSMEN

Kenneth Waiswa (180 runs in 4 innings)

Riazat Ali Shah (154 runs in 4 innings)

Simon Ssesazi (107 runs in 4 innings)

Cyrus Kakuru (98 runs in 4 innings)

BEST BOWLERS

Henry Ssenyondo (9 wickets, 77 runs, 166 dots)

Alpesh Ramjani (6 wickets, 72 runs, 78 dots)

Roger Mukasa (4 wickets, 75 runs, 95 dots)

Kenneth Waiswa (4 wickets, 45 runs, 22 dots)

MVP RANKINGS

Kenneth Waiswa         704 points

Riazat Ali Shah           660 pts

Henry Ssenyondo       621 pts

Alpesh Ramjani           558 pts

Roger Mukasa            513 pts