The national senior women’s cricket team – Victoria Pearls – did not do anything special to draw first blood in the Victoria Twenty20 International Series against visitors Canada in Lugogo on Monday.
Yes, they expectedly bowled out the North Americans for 67 runs in 19 overs before chasing the total for a seven-wicket victory with 48 balls to spare.
But the day was engineered by medium-pace bowler Kevin Amuge. The 20-year-old picked up her player-of-match accolade with grace and delight after she garnered four wickets for 14 runs on her best day in T20 Internationals.
‘I am so happy. I want to thank my teammates,’ Amuge said. ‘We came up with a plan and that’s the plan we followed in this particular game.’
She made her T20I bow only in June during the Kwibuka T20 Peace Cup in Kigali, Rwanda. And only her debut statistics: figures of 5/19 against Sierra Leone are better than Monday’s.
In nine T20Is, Amuge was humbled to shine in front of her home audience on a cloudy afternoon with two catches to supplement her bowling craft.
‘I want to dedicate this award to captain Janet Mbabazi and the rest of the players because they kept motivating me, because whenever they hit, they kept telling me to come back and work harder,’ she added.
The five-match Series which resumes this morning is for Canada to seek growth on their visit to Africa. Canada has played just 21 T20I matches since 2019 and so facing Uganda and later a tour of Tanzania gives coach Rizwan Cheema’s much-needed playing time.
And there are areas to work today. ‘We are glad to be here and we are enjoying the weather,’ remarked Canadian skipper Amarpal Kaur who top-scored for her side with 18 runs off 31 balls.
Canada was frustrated with the bat further by Immaculate Nakisuyi (2/15), Naome Amongin (1/11) and Sarah Akiteng (1/15) while Consy Aweko (0/10) picked a maiden in her three-over spell.
‘We bowled really well according to our plan but we didn’t execute our batting plan. I think we will take positives from our bowling. It’s a good batting wicket, we just need to,’ added Kaur.
Kaur will hope the opening batters in Achini Perera, Vandana Mahajan and Jasmina Oldham can offer a better start. But of course, Mbabazi are looking at getting better too.
“We want to make sure there’s a plan and we just have to be intentional about where the bowling, creating pressure, trying to pick the wickets,’ stated Mbabazi who led the successful chase with four boundaries in a 34-ball 37.
‘We should have batted for a maximum one wicket or no loss,’ added Mbabazi. The Pearls lost wickets but Nakisuyi (15 off 16) and Rita Musamali (9 off 12) did just enough to end the tie in less than 150 minutes.
CANADA WOMEN’S TOUR OF UGANDA
VICTORIA T20 BILATERAL SERIES
TUESDAY AT LUGOGO (10AM)
2nd T20I: Uganda Women vs. Canada Women
RESULT
Canada Women 67/10 Uganda 68/3
(Uganda Women won by 7 wickets with 48 balls remaining)
VICTORIA PEARLS SQUAD: Janet Mbabazi (C), Esther Iloku, Immaculate Nakisuyi, Rita Musamali, Stephanie Nampiina, Proscovia Alako, Kevin Awino, Consy Aweko, Sarah Tino, Sarah Akiteng, Naome Amongin, Kevin Amuge, Jimia Mohammed, Teddy Oyella