The Girls Schools Cricket week 2022 was finalized with a remarkable 10-wicket win by Olila High against Jinja Secondary School yesterday Thursday at the cricket oval in Lugogo.
A duo of Jimia Muhammad and Anyait Lona were unbeatable in Olila’s quest for a second title, as the pair managed to double-handedly bat down 50 and 22 runs respectively with 12 extras to bring the total to 84 runs.
Jinja Secondary won the toss and elected to bat first setting 83 runs for the fall of 8 wickets in 20 Overs with runs from Hope Mbeiza 16 off 17 balls, Annet Anume 16 off 32 balls, Ritah Nangobi 12 off 12 balls, and 13 extras in the sunny evening at Lugogo Cricket Oval.
Both teams brought to the final unbeaten records from the other stages of the competition but Olila overpowered the Jinja side to the dot chasing down a narrow target in 20 overs.
Scorecard
83/8 in 20/20
84/0 in 11.3/20
To reach the finals, champions Olila won by 9 wickets against Mukono’s Agape Christian Secondary School in the semi-finals while Jinja Secondary survived a narrow one run against Soroti’s Light Secondary School.
Ivan Kakande a coach with Soroti Cricket Academy told Afrosports how Jinja SS was not a threat to his side and that the win was an expected result just like the others.
“Our plan coming into this game was to bat first, but the toss didn’t go in our favour. However we still backed ourselves up because we had a target of 30 in total. Limit them as early as possible. Unfortunately they pushed it upto 80, but yesterday we scored 280 runs so it wasn’t that big.” Kakande said.
On day three of the series, Kakande’s team in the quarter-finals had beaten Agape SS by 271 runs for the fall of four wickets. In this game, star player Jimia Muhammad scored a century with three 6s in there as her teammate Akurut Asumin managed 79 runs off 36 balls.
He also disclosed some of the players in his camp (Soroti Cricket Academy) that were summoned to represent Uganda in Bostwana at the Under 19 world cup qualifiers.
Some of the players he revealed are; Timong Patricia, Jimia Muhammad, Achor Sandra, Amongin Naome, Anyait Lona and Akurut Asumin.
The girls are expected to report for a two weeks camp with the rest of the Under 19 national team as they prepare for the qualifier.
Player of the series Janet Nakiranda spoke to our reporter and this is what she had to say;
“This is my first accolade and also the biggest stage I have played on. I’ve been limited a bit with the school’s programs since am a candidate but am grateful for the award.”
Janet accumulated 769 batting points in the tournament and she is optimistic her dreams to play for the women’s national team will come to pass. Her best game performance with 89 runs off 70 balls in the series was in their first game against Mukono’s St John’s Secondary School on Tuesday.
Olila’s Jimia Muhammad emerged as the best batswoman with 277 runs off 234 balls in 8 innings while her teammate Kevin Amuge was named best bowler with 14 wickets.
With five dismissals to her name, Nyakasura’s Restine Kabugho was the best fielder and Achwao Sandra from Light SS finished as the best wicket keeper having four catches and two stumpings in the series.
Meanwhile, Light Secondary finished third after beating Ndejje Secondary School by 88 runs.
