Uganda beat Rwanda with nine wickets and 71 balls in hand to qualify for the T20 World Cup for the first time.
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Uganda finished second in the 2022/23 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier to become the 20th, and final, team to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup, to be hosted by the West Indies and the USA.
‘The Cranes’ came into their last league match, at the Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek, with a 16-0 record against Rwanda – the most one-sided record by any side against a single opposition in men’s T20Is.
To qualify for the T20 World Cup, they needed one point, having beaten Full Member Zimbabwe earlier in the competition – in other words, even a washed-out match would have seen them through.
Uganda shot out Rwanda for 65 in 18.5 overs after their captain Brian Masaba opted to bowl. Alpesh Ramjani returned incredible figures of 3-2-1-2, while Masaba (2-10), Henry Ssenyondo (2-10), Dinesh Nakrani (2-16), and Riazat Ali Shah (1-5) shared the other wickets.
For Rwanda, Eric Dusingizimana (19 in 22 balls) and Muhammad Nadir (11 in 24) were the only ones to reach double figures. The entire innings featured three fours and a six.
Uganda barely broke a sweat during their chase. Ronak Patel fell for a 20-ball 18, but Simon Ssenazi (26 not out in 21 balls) and Roger Mukasa (13 not out in 8) saw them home in 8.1 overs.
Uganda had qualified for the Africa Qualifier by virtue of making it to the Global Qualifier of 2022. They were joined by hosts Namibia and Zimbabwe, both of whom had played in the 2022 T20 World Cup, and Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania, all of whom qualified from this year’s African sub-regional qualifiers.
They began the Qualifier with an eight-wicket win against Tanzania before going down to Namibia by six wickets. Then, in their first ever full international match against an ICC Full Member side, they restricted Zimbabwe to 136-7 and chased down the target with five wickets and five balls in hand.
A nine-wicket win against Nigeria followed. In the all-important penultimate clash, they posted 162-5 and bowled out Kenya for 129, as good as sealing a T20 World Cup berth.
Amidst all this, Namibia had became the first of two teams from the group to qualify for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Zimbabwe and Kenya, the other teams in the race, were on six points – two behind Uganda – when they began their respective last matches, against each other. A point, thus, guaranteed Uganda a spot: they secured two points to qualify.
This will be Uganda’s first appearance at a World Cup, though Sam Walusimbi and John Nagenda, both Ugandans, played in the 1975 World Cup when the country used to compete as part of the East Africa side.
ICC T20 World Cup 2024 teams
Hosts – West Indies, USA. From T20 World Cup 2022 – England, Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Netherlands. Via T20I team rankings – Afghanistan, Bangladesh. Qualifiers – Ireland, Scotland (Europe); Papua New Guinea (East Asia-Pacific); Canada (Americas); Nepal, Oman (Asia); Namibia, Uganda (Africa).
