Cricket: Kenya eye revenge against Uganda in T20 final
Kenya’s coach Francis Otieno believes his charges can shock favourites Uganda in Wednesday’s final of the four-nation women’s Twenty (T20) tournament at Nairobi Gymkhana.
The match which is expected to be explosive owing to the long rivalry between the two teams, will kick-off at 2:30pm.
It will be preceded by the third place play-off between Qatar and Tanzania.
Uganda are favorites heading into the final since they have downed Kenya twice at the competition’s group stage.
In their first meeting last Tuesday, Uganda defeated Kenya by eight wickets, before completing a double over the hosts with a six-wicket win on Sunday.
Otieno said that though the match will be tough, his charges can carry the day if they take their chances and avoid silly mistakes.
“We have a clear intention of winning the final despite losing twice to them (Uganda) at the group stage,” said Otieno.
“We are very positive ahead of the match and I believe we can pull a huge upset tomorrow because the two previous matches provided us with an opportunity to know them well.”
Uganda and Kenya qualified for the final of the tournament held in a double-round robin format by virtue of finishing first and second with 10 and eight points respectively.
Flavia Odhiambo, Mercy Wachira, Venasa Ooko and Veronica Abuga are some of the players who have been outstanding for Kenya thus far.
Odhimabo heads to the final with an impressive 10 wickets to her name.
Ooko scored 48 runs to be named the player-of-the match in Kenya’s 85 runs victory over Qatar on Friday.
Esther Wachira hit 47 runs in the same match, while Abuga slammed 56 runs to guide the hosts to a hard-fought two-wicket win over Tanzania on Monday.
Otieno hopes that the quartet will replicate their top performance in the matches IN the final. Uganda have until now registered just one loss in the competition, a 14-run defeat to top ranked Tanzania on Saturday.
Their top performers in the competition include Prosscovia Alako, Irene Alumo and Janet Mbabazi, who have all bagged the player-of-the match gong.
Alako was crowned the player-of-the-match in Uganda’s double over Kenya, while Mbabazi bagged the award in their wins over Tanzania and Qatar.
Alumo was crowned the Player of the match in Uganda’s first meeting with Qatar.
Having not tasted victory yet in the tournament, Qatar is expected to go all out against favourites Tanzania. Tanzania edged out Qatar by 77 runs and 96 runs in both legs of the tournament.
Wedesday’s matches:
Qatar v Tanzania 10:30am
Kenya v Uganda 2:30pm BY DAILY NATION
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