The Baby Cricket Cranes packed their bags late Sunday night and moved from Guyana to Trinidad and Tobago for their last two group matches against South Africa and India.
The Baby Cricket Cranes fell to Ireland in their opening World Cup by 39 runs, but a loss that had many positives for Uganda.
The slow bowlers, especially Matthew Musinguzi and Joseph Baguma, were exceptional on the slow Guyana wickets, but the biggest improvement was with the bat. Despite the top-of-order failures, the middle and low-order combined combined 180 runs led by captain Pascal Murungi to take Uganda’s first half-ton at the World Cup. Juma Miyagi delivered some nasty blows at the back with a well made 38 off 28 balls with the support of Isaac Ategeka who sadly ran out for 24. Uganda also had two partnerships of 53 between Pascal Murungi with Joseph Baguma and Juma Miyagi with Edwin Nuwagaba .
The Baby Cricket Cranes had clearly done their homework from the warm up games in which they hit badly and this time they had a better approach to their chase. The batters needed some time on the field and gave themselves time to score by making sure they took the time to get used to the wicket. There is still a definite weakness to a good quality spin which seems to be the weakness for Uganda.
Pascal Murungi put on a captaincy with both bat and ball and he will be key for his side. Miyagi was by his side with bat and ball and more is expected from Cyrus Kakuru, who has the talent to score big runs at this level. Joseph Baguma and Matthew Musinguzi will once again be key bowlers for the team and hopefully they will not be impressed by the podium. The fast bowlers Pius Oloka, Juma Miyagi and Pascal Murungi were a bit expensive and so they will have to clean up to make sure they keep their opponent at bay.
In South Africa, they face an injured side who also lost India’s opening game after tying the favorites for a long time.
South Africa is coached by a man who knows the Ugandans very well in former Cricket Cranes Coach Conrad Shukri.
Uganda has previously played at this level against South Africa in 2004, losing by 8 wickets to Bangladesh.
Uganda is the underdog in his encounter but a small dog who will take the fight to his opponent. In the other match in the group, India will face Ireland.
