Uganda’s starlets beat Tanzania by 8 wickets on Wednesday, at IPRC Kigali Oval, to seal a ticket to the 2022 ICC U-19 World Cup in West Indies. They qualified for the World Cup after coming top during the African qualifiers that concluded in Kigali on October 6. Tanzania went into the final game with an upper hand as they topped the table, having won their first three games unbeaten in the qualifiers. Uganda, meanwhile, knew only a win would see them leapfrog the Tanzanians and wait for the result between Namibia and Nigeria at Gahanga Cricket Stadium. Tanzania won the toss and opted to bowl first and ended the first innings with 51 runs after 26 overs from a possible 50. Uganda’s U19s needed just 52 runs to win the game, a target they bettered after posting 54 runs with 228 balls remaining. The win was not enough for Ugandans to celebrate yet, anxious that a result from the game between Namibia and Nigeria could turn things around. The Namibians thought they had an easy game against Nigeria who ended the qualifying campaign without a single win but things were different when the Namibians struggled to cope with Nigeria’s 184 runs posted in the first innings after winning the toss and opting to bowl first. By the time the rain halted the play, Namibia were ahead of Nigeria by 6 runs and eventually were awarded victory as the pitch conditions made it impossible for the game to be resumed. The victory was, however, not enough to send the Namibians to the World Cup as they trailed Uganda in run rate despite both being level on six points – same with Tanzania Uganda emerged top of the log courtesy of a better run rate (2.128), followed by Namibia with 0.817 and Tanzania at 0.381. The Ugandans will be making a third appearance in the men’s ICC U-19 World Cup after competing at the 2004 and 2006 tournaments. Individual awards: 1. Joseph Baguma – best bowler (10 wickets) 2. Cyrus Kakuru – best batsman (161 runs) 3. Pascal Murungi (captain of Uganda) – player of the tournament
