Experienced trio to miss Cricket Cranes’ Qatar trip

New senior men’s national cricket team coach Lawrence Mahatlane is expected to arrive in the country today ahead of his unveiling tomorrow.

The ceremony by Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) is almost six months late because of coronavirus travel restrictions and paper work for the South African who was announced as the permanent replacement to Kenyan Steven Tikolo in late June.

While Mahatlane hopes to start off on a perfect note, he will be devoid of a trio of experienced players on his first job at the T20 Invitational Tour in Qatar next month.

Daily Monitor understands that top-order batsman Roger Mukasa, bowling all-rounder Deusdedit Muhumuza and left-arm medium-pace bowler Charles Waiswa will not travel to the Middle East for the December 15-20 event.

“Taking a break,” said Waiswa, who has been part of the Cricket Cranes’ set-up since 2005. 

Busy time

The 32-year-old has picked 88 wickets in 60 matches across the T20s, First-class and List A formats of the game.

Similarly, Muhumuza’s schedule appears to be tight for the man who is often identified by his teammates using his jersey number 88 or the nickname ‘Baby’.

“It will be a busy month for me,” said Muhumuza, who broke through to the senior ranks in 2010 and accumulated 469 runs and 28 wickets across 41 innings in List A and T20 matches. 

“It is work related and I can’t leave for that long.”

This paper understands that Uganda’s hosts Qatar will keep the visiting sides in a mandatory quarantine for two weeks near a cricket facility as part of the Covid-19 measures before the tournament begins.

That means the Cricket Cranes will need to arrive in Doha by December 1, implying three weeks away, something which contradicts Muhumuza’s plans.

Right-arm medium pacer Muhumuza is the first Ugandan bowler to take a five-wicket haul in T20 International, a feat attained against Qatar on February 15, 2020.

And former national captain Roger Mukasa is also away from the Qatar trip. 

“Some personal things have held me up,” the opening batsman, who has been a key pillar since 2005, told this paper at the weekend.

Mukasa has made 829 runs in 24 matches across List A, First-class and T20 codes. 

This trio also missed the Uganda Elite League last month, which served as an early warm-up for players before Qatar.