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Friday March 29, 2024

WCL: Uganda bounce back to wallop Bermuda

By Agencies
May 01, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: Captain Roger Mukasa singlehandedly outscored the opposition at UKM-YSD Oval, his 97 for Uganda laying the platform for a 189-run walloping of Bermuda a day after a bitter nine-run loss to Malaysia at WCL Division Four.

Mukasa repelled the Bermuda attack after being sent in at the toss, adding 137 for the second wicket with Hamu Kayondo (55 off 95 balls) to set up an easily defendable total.For the second day in a row, star allrounder Kamau Leverock was left out of the Bermuda lineup for disciplinary reasons. A source said that Bermuda team management investigated whether they would possibly be allowed a replacement player in their 14-man tournament squad for non-injury reasons, presumably in relation to Leverock after his tirade at team training on Saturday, but were denied.

Without Leverock’s runs at the top of the order, Bermuda struggled badly once again as Uganda opened their defence of 249 by using two spinners with the new ball. The strategy was near flawless on what has proven to be a spinners paradise in UKM-YSD Oval’s early days as an international venue as Mohammed Irfan and Frank Nsubuga shredded the Bermuda line-up, both men bowling unbroken ten-over spells to leave Bermuda 51 for 9 after 20 overs.

Irfan claimed career-best figures of 6 for 23 while Nsubuga kept pressure at the other end and finished with 2 for 27. Uganda didn’t bowl a single ball of pace in the match as Henry Ssenyondo and Brian Masaba took over from Irfan and Nsubuga to split the last two wickets to bowl Bermuda out for 60 in 21.4 overs. The significant net run rate impact for each side means Uganda is still very much in the promotion hunt at 1-1 while Bermuda will have a very difficult time avoiding relegation at 0-2 as they are yet to face Jersey and Denmark, two of the pre-tournament favourites.

Scores: Uganda 249 for 5 (Mukasa 97, Kayondo 55, Outerbridge 2 for 46) beat Bermuda (Trott 17, Irfan 6 for 23) by 189 runs.

In another match after a sterling bowling effort at the death and a two-and-a-half hour delay in a revised chase of 114 from 23 overs, Denmark finished off Jersey with seven wickets and seven balls to spare via Duckworth-Lewis method at Royal Selangor Club. Opener Nat Watkins was named Man of the Match after top-scoring for Jersey with 86 off 111 balls in a losing cause. But after reaching his fifty off 79 balls in the 30th over, he struggled to accelerate in the stifling heat and humidity of Kuala Lumpur.

Appearing energy-sapped, Watkins went 14 overs without a boundary until striking one off left-arm spinner Bashir Shah in the 42nd over. Another four and six came off Bashir’s next over before Watkins was bowled charging Bashir to leave Jersey at 194 for 4. Denmark’s bowlers were brilliant at tying down the Jersey middle order with changes of pace. Jersey’s last five overs netted only 33 runs, and just 100 runs came off the last 15 despite being at 138 for 1 in 35 overs on a flat pitch that gave the bowlers little to work with. Denmark’s attack, however was incredibly disciplined throughout as they conceded just two extras, both of them leg byes. A day after scoring a century in a win over Bermuda on the same pitch, Freddie Klokker steered the chase, helping Denmark to 55 for 0 in 13 overs, 24 ahead of the D/L par score, when a massive thunderstorm swept across the ground. The field became flooded within an hour but Royal Selangor’s solid drainage system allowed play to eventually resume once the rain subsided. The target was revised to 114 in 23 overs, leaving Denmark needing 59 off 60 balls.

Scores: Denmark 114 for 3 (Klokker 39, Zameer 38) beat Jersey 238 for 6 (Watkins 86, Stevens 69, Bulow 2-30) by seven wickets via D/L method.