Arinaitwe's five wicket haul could not save Uganda

Oct 27, 2014

Davis Karashani Arinaitwe picked five wickets but they were not enough to save Uganda from a four wicket loss with 174 balls to go in their ICC Division III cricket league match against hosts Malaysia.

By Norman Katende

ICC DIV III Cricket league

Uganda 106, Malaysia 107/6

(Malaysia won by 4 wickets)

Tuesday

Bermuda v Singapore

Nepal v USA

Wednesday

Bermuda v Uganda

Malaysia v Nepal

Singapore v USA

Davis Karashani Arinaitwe picked five wickets but they were not enough to save Uganda from a four wicket loss with 174 balls to go in their ICC Division III cricket league match against hosts Malaysia.

The result means that Uganda now needs to win their last game against Bermuda to advance to the Division II cricket league.

Uganda put up 106 runs, their least runs so far and will need to get used to the Selangor wicket when they take on a Bermuda side, which had been looked at as tournament whipping boys until they shocked Malaysia, who they beat by 37 runs.

Uganda bore the brunt of this shock, as a reborn Malaysia made batting quite difficult for them with only Philimon Selowa (27), Naeem Bardai (11), Davis Arinaitwe (11) and captain Frank Nsubuga (19) the only players recording double figures in runs as Malaysia bowled and fielded tight.

Derek Duraisingam, who picked three wickets for 24 runs led Malaysia’s onslaught with Khizar Hayat and Shahrulmizam Yusof complimenting with two wickets each.

In defence, Uganda employed the tactics of Davis Karashani that seemed to pay off as he picked five wickets for 32 runs, though the target was too small for the hosts.

Karashani claimed Anwar Arudin (26, caught by Jonathan Ssebanja), Nasir Shafiq (16, caught by Roger Mukasa), Shafis Sharif (12, caught by Hamu Kayondo), Khizar Hayat (o, stumped by Bardai) before trapping Suhan Alagaratnam (00) leg before wicket.

But third wicket Ahmed Faiz stayed on the crease with an unbeaten 34, which guided the hosts to victory with four wickets to spare and 174 balls to go.

The result brought Uganda net run rate to -0.374, which implies that only a win in the last game, which will send them to eight points can comfortably secure them a place in the Division II cricket league in Namibia next year, without caring about the outcome of other games on the final day.