Melbourne Cricket Club played their final game of the tour in Uganda on Thursday with a five-wicket victory over the Chairman’s XI at the Entebbe Cricket Oval.
The visitors can now look back with a smile at the five games played, having lost only one of them to the host’s National side on day one, last week -Thursday- in Jinja.
To recover from the drawback, the visitors would later regroup and pick a win against Uganda’s U-19 in Entebbe before trekking to Kamengo on the next day to cultivate double wins against the Ceylon Lions in two T20 games at the Serenity Oval.
The guests further played a two-day cricket match against the National Cricket team the Cranes, and by the end of day one, they trailed by 114 runs after bundling out the hosts at 164 runs and scoring 50/3.
A stunning batting collection on day two saw David Murphy strike a century with 101 off 171 for the visitors, handing them a big margin lead at 258/8, but a remarkable unbeaten performance from Simon Ssesazzi (35), and Cranes’ Captain Brian Masaba (11), had the teams shake hands to declare the game a draw.
Yesterday’s -Thursday- result implies the visitors have picked four wins, one draw, and one loss from their Tour in Uganda, which is a good undertaking for them, as let out by their Captain George Thurstance.
“We have had a great time from start to finish, the host’s challenge has been phenomenal, we felt privileged, and we were looked after for the whole time. We started on a bit of a poor side but we later found our feet and improved game on game as the players got strong.
“so we are leaving the country on a high, though we lost that first game against the National side. We had a fantastic time socially, and we really a enjoyed ourselves.”
George also whispered that some of the players on his team could fly back to Uganda shortly, for another cricket experience, coming from the challenge posed to them by the host teams.
The skipper noted out 19-year-old pace bowler Juma Miyagi as one of the standout players that had his side cornered, describing him as one of the best bowlers he has faced in all forms of cricket, and a player to count on for the future.
“It’s hard to name every standout because we have been blown away by the standard of Ugandan cricket. I could list a handful of names who are promising talents which is a good sign, and we have been really impressed.” He added.
On the final day -yesterday- the Chairman’s XI started on a flying bat, with opening duo Emmanuel Hasahya and Ronald Opio wielding 39 and 44 respectively to launch promising results for the home team.
However, the next partnerships failed to live up to their predecessors, putting up little-to-no resistance, only gathering 151 all out.
Melbourne’s Ollie Haley stood out with a half-century (58) at the top of the order with some wickets slowing his feat down but a good hand from Sam Burge (39 not out) handed the visitors a fourth win of the tour.
