Kenya XI and Uganda exchanged victories on the opening day of the Twenty20 warm-up friendlies between the two sides at Sir Ali’s Club in Nairobi on Saturday.
In the morning game Uganda responded brilliantly to Kenya’s 147 for 6 to snatch an unlikely 7-wicket victory thanks to Roger Mukasa’s explosive unbeaten innings of 92, he almost single-handedly grabbed the victory for the Ugandans and kept going despite the fall of wickets at the other end.
Alex Obanda had led the Kenyans in their innings with a well worked 84 with some support from Ragheb Aga who notched 24. However Charles Waiswa’s 3 for 24 proved vital in putting the brakes during the Kenyan innings.
In the afternoon game, Kenya raised their game with a 68-run victory after posting 199 for 6 off their 20 overs.
Obanda yet again top scored for Kenya with 78 runs in his favoured shorter version of the game and helped put Kenya back on track against the visitors. Rakep Patel contributed 46 while Aga made a quick 27 for the home side.
In reply, the Ugandans were always chasing the game with the asking rate creeping marginally over 10 runs in most of their innings. Hiren Varaiya did most of the damage to the Ugandans with his four-wicket haul giving away only 16 runs.
Benjamin Musoke’s 54 not out and Charles Waiswa’s late 48 runs did not threaten the Kenyan total but rather gave the scores some respectability.
The two teams meet again on Monday at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club in another double header.
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