Uganda’s national cricket team, the Cricket Cranes, capped off a dream campaign with a thrilling 8-run victory over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to retain their title at the second edition of the Pearl of Africa T20 Series. The intense showdown unfolded at the scenic Entebbe Oval, where the Cranes sealed the tournament unbeaten, collecting a perfect 12 points from six matches.
In what turned out to be a pulsating winner-takes-all finale, skipper Juma Miyaji’s decision to bat first after winning the toss paid dividends. A shaky start at 51/3 was quickly turned around by a heroic 99-run partnership between Uganda’s top scorer Raghav Dhawan (56 off 41 balls) and the tournament’s Most Valuable Player Alpesh Ramjani (61 off 34).
The pair’s composed yet aggressive innings lifted Uganda to a commanding total of 170/7.UAE’s bowlers, led by Akif Raja (2/31) and Ali Haider (2/37), fought back valiantly, but the Cranes’ batting resilience prevailed.
In response, the UAE’s batting line-up showed depth, with five players notching 20-plus scores. However, Uganda’s disciplined bowling and fielding proved decisive. Dinesh Nakrani (2/24), Frank Nsubuga (2/31), and Matthew Musinguzi (1/15) delivered under pressure, curbing UAE’s chase and sealing a hard-fought victory as the visitors fell just short at 162/9.
“This win means everything heading into the qualifiers,” said captain Miyaji. “We knew we had to be clinical today, and the energy from the home crowd gave us that extra push.”
Assistant coach Jackson Ogwang hailed the team’s maturity “We’ve grown a lot this series. The boys stuck to the plans and adapted quickly. The total we posted gave us belief, we knew we could beat a team ranked above us.”
Alpesh Ramjani was deservedly named Player of the Tournament with 334 points, while Raghav Dhawan claimed the Best Batsman award after amassing 228 runs.
Beyond the silverware, Uganda gained crucial T20I ranking points and a morale boost as they set their sights on the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifiers later this year.