Cricket cranes coach Lawrence Mahatlane is optimistic his boys are competent to put up resistance against hosts Jersey in the final round of the ICC challenge League B.
Tomorrow Uganda will face off with Jersey in a do-or-die as every single game counts in determining who will advance to the qualifier playoffs.
Uncomfortable in the lead, the Kampala boys harbor dreams to play in the 2023 world cup and in the same spirit, attain ODI status.
The target seems blurry, but for a team that managed to go unbeaten in the first round of the challenge, 2019 in Oman and later hold on at home to finish top in the second round, the dreams are valid.
Lawrance Mahatlane said: “exciting times ahead as tomorrow we take on Jersey, the host nation. The captain should arrive this afternoon, Deus Muhumuza unfortunately his flight was delayed, but I think we should be ready.”
The team will be commanded into action by Deus Muhumuza despite not traveling along with the team. This comes after the “usual captain” Brian Masaba was not named in the team that will represent the pearl because of an injury.
He added on that: “We played a warm-up game against Jersey a day after we arrived. We have now played Jersey three times in a short period so I think we know each other quite well, we know what they gonna be bringing to the party, they know what we gonna be bringing to the party.”
The 46-year-old South African is confident his team will spray a couple of surprises on Jersey, come game day tomorrow.
Jersey beat Uganda by 62 runs at home in the second round of the competition with cynical damages from opening batsman Nickson Greenwood who missed a century in the game by only 20 runs.
Uganda will have to count on “danger man” Simon Ssesazzi along with Ronak Patel and youngster Juma Miyaji who were crucial as Uganda edged past Jersey in the T20 world cup qualifier recently in Zimbabwe.
To advance to the next stage which is the qualifier play-offs, Uganda will have to finish top of the chart in this round since only one slot is available.
In the playoffs, they will then play against the winner of the challenge League A and other teams that will finish in the bottom four of the World cup league 2 among these are; the USA, Namibia, Nepal, PNG, UAE, Scotland, and Oman.
From the playoffs, the top two teams then progress to the World cup qualifiers that will be held in Zimbabwe next year.
After the qualifier, two teams are then guaranteed a spot in the 2023 world Cup in India.
