On sunny day in Kampala, Davis Karashani and Laurence Sematimba the captains of the Knights and Warriors respectively, walked on to the pitch at Kyambogo Oval for the toss in the East Africa Cup. The Knights eventually won the toss and elected to bat. Their hero in the EAPL, Arthur Kyobe opened the batting with Dennis Musali. With Charles Waiswa steaming in from Jinja Road end, the openers found it difficult to score initially but got their groove on as the innings went by . They batted intelligently eventually putting up a partnership of 84 runs, before Arthur Kyobe skied one too many and was caught by Ivan Thawithemwira at extra cover.
Dennis Musali was given a lifeline at 20 runs when the Warriors wicket keeper missed a stumping off the bowling of Roger Mukasa. 16 runs later, Dennis was caught at deep mid wicket attempting a slog sweep off Mohammed Shafeek. With The Knights in trouble, in came the experienced Benjamin Musoke who held the innings together before he was brilliantly caught and bowled by Mohammed Shafeek. Davis Karashani and Deus Muhumuza put up a good partnership that helped the Knights to a respectable total of 224/8 in 50 overs. The pick of the Warriors bowlers was Mohammed Shafeek who picked up figures of 4/38 in his 10 overs.
The Warriors got off to the worst possible start with opening batsman Martin Ondeko being bowled by Frank Nsubuga for naught with the score at 5 runs. Ali Raza, the Warriors other opening batsman followed soon after as he was bowled for 9 runs, attempting to slog sweep Frank Nsubuga. This was the beginning of a major collapse with star batsman Roger Mukasa being deceived by a delivery from Davis Karashani that cleaned bowled him with the score at 30. Laurence Sematimba tried to restore some sanity with a patient knock of 23, but it was a little too late as the Warriors were eventually bowled out for 114 in 37.4 overs. The pick of the Knights bowlers was Frank Nsubuga who picked 4/17 in 8.4 overs including the last wicket of Ivan Thawithemwira.
In Nakuru, Rift Valley Rhinos completed their double over Kongonis on Sunday afternoon when they bowled the visitors for just 66 in 22 overs and then chased the total for the loss of 4 wickets in 15.2 overs.
Kongonis will have been disappointed by their performance at the Rift Valley Sports Club especially on Sunday considering that they will be playing in the 50-over final in a week’s time, at Nairobi Gymkhana ground.
The Nairobi based side got off to their worst possible start when they lost wickets quickly and failed to hold together any meaningful partnerships. The wicket was a difficult one to score runs on but some of the wickets that fell had nothing to do with a challenging surface.
The Rhinos speedily got to 67 in just inside 16 overs thanks largely to an aggressive David Obuya and some late hitting from Harish Vekaria. Obuya rode his luck at times with Amit Shukla spilling him at deep square leg when he had mistimed a Rakep Patel delivery but it proved to be costly as the right-handed batsman piled on the runs and ensured the victory went to the home side.
In Nairobi, Nairobi Buffaloes avenged their twenty20 defeat to Coast Pekee on Saturday by inflicting a 101-run victory at the Nairobi Gymkhana ground.
Half-centuries from skipper Collins Obuya (87) and Rahul Vishram (73) helped set the tone for the comfortable win.
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