Mwiri, Sahajanand shine, Jinja shocked in Boys School Cricket Week

With the century count at naught and only three half tons across 20 matches, it is tempting to look back at the first two days of the Sky View 2025 Boys Schools Cricket Week with concern.

In reality, there are lots of fascinating storylines and exciting themes at the tournament, which is the pulse of cricket development in the country. Consider the hosts first.

Nyakasura have a strong cricket tradition and, as hosts of this year’s edition, are once again offering the reminder that cricket, like any other major sport in the country, needs to continually expand its influence away from Kampala.

Cricket governing body UCA can rightly feel satisfaction in the character of the tournament hosts, who reached last year’s semis and were involved in a rematch of that contest as they took on Busoga College Mwiri on Monday at St. Leo’s Ground Two in one of the games of the tournament so far.

Like last year, Mwiri won the day, triumphing by 29 runs thanks in part to Ryan Agaba’s 4/20, which enabled the Nile region champions to defend their 148 against an opponent who had opened their account on day one with an impressive four-wicket win over Mukono.

But no doubt the biggest headline in the first two days was written by Ntare School. Taking on defending champions in their opening game, Ntare were not a safe bet for victory. Wrong! Ntare stunned Jinja, first restricting them to 94/8, then chasing down their target in 16.2 overs, with five wickets to spare.

Ntare’s Paul Asasira, with 3/7, was named man-of-the-match, with notable support coming from Darren Ampaire, who scored an unbeaten 40 off 43.

Jinja, who began their campaign with a 143-run over Rwenzori, were given an early signal of just how complicated their title defence might be. After all, the bigger tests may be yet to come.

Think about Central Region winners Shree Sahajanand. They have been unstoppable, picking up three comfortable victories in as many outings. They clobbered Rwenzori High by nine wickets in their opener, hammered Good Heart by 123 runs, and dismembered Gulu High by 81 runs.

Sharad Vekariya scored 61 off 49 in Shree’s 81-run victory over Gulu to join Jinja’s Jonathan Nyiiro and Aga Khan’s Abraiz Mir Ali as the only players to score a half-ton in the 17-team competition.

The standout bowling performance was delivered by Wilson Kimbugwe, who claimed an incredible 7/16 as St. John Mukono defeated Kings College Budo by nine wickets. Budo’s showing in the first two days has had nothing royal about it, with a 10-wicket loss to St. James and the eight-wicket defeat to Masindi putting an end to their bid quickly.

For most others, the show goes on, and with the competitors drawn from all across the country, so does the nationwide interest.