The tournament went exactly according to script with neither of the two big fish being troubled by the other three dwellers of a rather small pond. That isn't to say that competitive cricket was not played by those sides, especially Tanzania. For the third of the East African trio, impressive performances were provided by Ali Rehemtullah (90 not out against Nigeria) and Benson Nyaikini (who took 4 for 32 against Kenya in his only appearance). However, the three African representitives in the UAE will be:
The second part of the Popping Crease's Road to the World Twenty20. With PNG making it eight teams qualified for the World T20 Qualifier in the UAE, Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, Nigeria and Tanzania met in Kampala to fight for two places at the tournament. Namibia were not present at the tournament courtesy of their success at the last Qualifier granting them automatic qualification to the edition later this year. Kenyan and Ugandan players are all regulars in the East Africa Premier League, which gives them all the opportunities to hone their Twenty20 skills. Comparitively, Botswana, Nigeria and Tanzania were simply inferior sides on paper in terms of both talent and experience. The tournament went exactly according to script with neither of the two big fish being troubled by the other three dwellers of a rather small pond. That isn't to say that competitive cricket was not played by those sides, especially Tanzania. For the third of the East African trio, impressive performances were provided by Ali Rehemtullah (90 not out against Nigeria) and Benson Nyaikini (who took 4 for 32 against Kenya in his only appearance). However, the three African representitives in the UAE will be: Kenya's fortunes as a cricketing nation has been more up and down than the moods of a bi-polar bear. (Badoomtsh.) From World Cup semi-finalists on the verge of Test status, after doing much more at international level than Bangladesh did to earn it. However, the lack of a strong infrastructure has cost them dearly, and they crashed into the lower half of last year's Qualifier. Now, though, their young players are starting to come of age, Irfan Karim (son of Aasif) belted an ODI century against Canada, and Rakep Patel seems to have found his feet recently in Twenty20 cricket. Coupled with an experienced core of players, their prospects are pretty bright this time around. Namibia, after their sterling performance last time out, can rightly be hopeful of qualification to the World Twenty20 in Bangladesh. Their long-term thinking is starting to bear glorious fruits like Louis van der Weisthuizen, Ray van Schoor, Christi Viljoen, Louis Klazinga and promising Xander Pitchers. Add them to experienced skipper Craig Williams, and the hopeful return of Gerrie Snyman, and Namibia would be a match for any other Associate at the moment. Uganda struggled to make much headway in the last Qualifier, but they do possess some very talented individuals. For instance, Roger Mukasa and Arthur Kyobe both hit the ball hard at the top of the order, and have quite impressive run records to prove it. The Ugandan teams also regularly prevail over their Kenyan opposition in the East Africa Cup and Premier League competitions, where Lawrence Sematimba's glovework has raised eyebrows. The Ugandans would probably wish that they were able to call on the two most talented fast bowlers they've produced, Henry Osinde and Kenneth Kamyuka, but both of them have left their native country behind and emigrated to Canada, where both have thrived. We can also tell a little more about the relative strength of these teams from the just-concluded quadrangular series in Namibia. Kenya and Namibia were very evenly matched, and edged out an Emerging South Africa side and the shambolic Netherlands to secure a place in the final. Namibia won the final off the last ball, making it two wins out of two against the Kenyans, and to show off their form once again. One thing that has puzzled me though is that they have not been granted T20I status after proving themselves the 3rd best Associate in the format, while Kenya retained such status while lagging behind their local rivals. Both nations could make it to Bangladesh this time.
3 Comments
Sifter
25/4/2013 04:39:45 am
It will be interesting, for sure.
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I have to agree. He bowls awkward little left arm spinners too. I would also suggest that Craig Williams is either Test quality or very close to it.
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Lubega Brian
26/4/2013 02:11:51 am
Uganda has come alongway to earn aplace in the qualifiers and hopefully it makes it to the T20 competition.
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Spread the WordThe AuthorMartin Jones is a teenage cricketer with an obsessive interest in the game, particularly the more obscure and quirky areas of it that don't get enough attention. He has also written articles for Planet Cricket, Third Man Cricket and ESPN Cricinfo. Categories Cricket by Association Archives
September 2015
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