Victoria Pearls down Namibia for second win

Uganda captain Consy Aweko reminded the sporting fraternity about the price of experience after she picked out of her rich bag to guide her side to a four-wicket victory over Namibia at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Finals at Entebbe Oval on Tuesday.

The Victoria Pearls made it two wins in two matches in Group B of the championship which is a route to the 2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup set to be held in Bangladesh after Aweko picked crucial figures of 3/16 and 13 dots in a four-over spell to bowl out Namibia for 92 runs in 19.5 overs.

When the batters kept falling, it also needed Aweko to come in at eight when the board read 72-6 to bury any inklings of pressure with a pivotal 11*-run-a-ball including the winning boundary to the on-side on the fourth ball of the penultimate over. 

“The game was well played by my girls,” Aweko said in the post-match interview after picking her player-of-the-match award from National Council of Sports’ assistant general secretary David Katende.

“They tried to control the tempo of the game. It wasn’t a soft sail on the sea, a bit of hiccups but it was well brought back by the spinners today. And also our batters, we bat up to number 11 so everyone trusts the other,” she added. 

Namibia skipper Irene van Zyl admitted they set a total too little to get them over the line for a second tournament win, implying, they will need to fight their hearts out for a second place when they meet Rwanda tomorrow. 

“Not enough runs on the board. We know that Uganda puts up a fight. Good game from them, I think the girls pushed well but not enough runs,” Van Zyl stated. 

There was still pressure in the power play when Aweko won the toss and opted to field first. 

Irene Alumo’s opening over went for 12 runs and that catapulted Namibia’s openers Yasmeen Khan (15 off 17) and Sune Wittmann (17 off 23) to 35 runs before the latter was caught by Immaculate Nakisuyi off Janet Mbabazi (1/14) at 5.4 overs. 

Namibia were then quickly down to 62-5 at 11.5 overs with youngster Lorna Anyait’s slow bowling figures of 3/19 doing severe damage before Kaylene Green scored 22 off 29. 

In the chase, Namibia fielded tight and Uganda were choking at 28-2 after 5.5 overs as Victoria Hamunyela (3/14) had dismissed both openers Kevin Awino (13 off 13) and Proscovia Alako (7 off 15) following questionable shots to the field. 

The board read 44-4 at 9.4 overs, Uganda seemingly clueless with Stephannie Nampiina (4 off 8) and Mbabazi (10 off 16) gone too. 

It took fighting from Ritah Musamali (16 off 20), Nakisuyi (10 off 17), youngster Malisa Ariokot (10 off 12) and Aweko to close out the game. 

Uganda is top of the table with four points and will hope to close out that spot when they face Nigeria, who defeated Rwanda by six wickets via Duckworth & Lewis (D/L) Method with great thanks to Peculiar Agboya (3/13 and 19 off 17). 

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe and Tanzania who are unbeaten in Group A, will face off on Wednesday in a top-of-table clash. Kenya face Botswana. 

2023 ICC WOMEN’S T20 WORLD CUP AFRICA FINALS

RESULTS

GROUP B

Rwanda 88/9 Nigeria 49/4 (10.3 overs)

(Nigeria won by 6 wickets via D/L)

Namibia 92/10 Uganda 93/6

(Uganda won by 4 wickets) 

WEDNESDAY FIXTURES - GROUP A

9.30am: Botswana vs. Kenya

1.50pm: Tanzania vs. Zimbabwe

GROUP B

9.30am: Nigeria vs. Rwanda

1.50pm: Uganda vs. Namibia

TOURNAMENT - MATCH DAY 1 RESULTS

GROUP A

Zimbabwe 111/9 Kenya 49/10

(Zimbabwe won by 62 runs)

Botswana 75/10 Tanzania 76/0

(Tanzania won by 10 wickets)

GROUP B

Namibia 122/2 Nigeria 113/7

(Namibia won by 9 runs)

Rwanda 87/5 Uganda 89/4

(Uganda won by 6 wickets)

MONDAY’S RESULTS - GROUP A

Kenya 35/3 (8 overs) Tanzania 42/3 (6.3 overs)

(Tanzania won by 7 wickets via DL)

Zimbabwe 162/5 Botswana 47/10

(Zimbabwe won by 115 runs)