Amazing tournament ends with Uganda as winners

Africa Continental Cup 
Final
Nigeria 89/4 Uganda 90/4 
(Uganda win by six wickets)

ODI status remains the big goal but small victories along the way count.

Small victories such as the Africa Continental Cup trophy, which the Cricket Cranes claimed yesterday in Kigali after beating Nigeria by six wickets in the final.

On its own, the title weighs light: the Cricket Cranes were so superior to the rest of the competition that it was a case of how big Uganda's victories would be rather than whether they would win.

The 10-0 record must therefore be taken with a measure of sobriety.

But in the grand scheme of maintaining Uganda's winning culture, the Africa Continental Cup was a valuable filler.

Riazat Shah, who scored a match-best 42 off 49 in the final to scoop man-of-match honours, noted the value in playing the event.

"It was an amazing tournament for us," said the Ugandan skipper. "The way we wanted to end this tournament is how we ended it.

"We wanted to see a couple of combinations in the tournament before our World Cup qualifiers next year and that is what we saw."

Robinson Obuya may have gone for a golden duck in the final, but he finished as the tournament's best player.

Henry Ssenyondo, who took his 100th wicket in the tournament and is now on 118 and ninth on the all-time list, finished as the best bowler. 

He took 3/15 in the final.

Dinesh Nakrani and Raghav Dhawan had 27 and 13 runs respectively for Uganda.