MATCH STORIES
Follow UsAnother day, another spirited bowling performance from Uganda. While their batting has been well under-par in the tournament, the same cannot be said about their bowling. With each passing match, they have upped their performance with the ball, and against the West Indies, it was perhaps their best performance yet.
Yes, they bundled out Papua New Guinea (PNG) for just 77, but if you look at their performances against the full-members – Afghanistan and the West Indies – it is safe to say that they biggest takeaway from this campaign will be the way they have improved with the ball.
Afghanistan were cruising and were well on their way to a total of about 210-220, given that they had all their 10 wickets intact, with openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran making the Ugandan bowlers work hard. Ibrahim fell in the 15th over, Afghanistan managed just 29 runs more from next 33 deliveries. Commendable effort, if you look at the fact that the Afghans had batters like Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib and Azmatillah Omarzai.
They kept it simple – on a slow wicket, skipper Brian Masaba took the lead with the ball, and the fast bowlers, especially, Cosmas Kyewuta, nailed those Yorkers and bowled cross-seam whenever he could to further keep the batters on the toes.
The plan was similar today.
Nearly 36% of the deliveries Kyewuta bowled today at the death were Yorkers. In fact, one-fifth of the deliveries he has bowled this tournament in overs 16-20, have been Yorkers. Unfortunately, he bowled a little wide at that length to Russell in the final over, which destroyed his bowling figures a tad.
At no point did Uganda let West Indies off the hook. It was Kyewuta again, who at in the powerplay made West Indies sweat, starting off with five dots against Johnson Charles. Between that and conceding four boundaries off the last over, Kyewuta bowled an immaculate spell. That delivery to dismiss Sherfane Rutherford at the death is what every pacer dreams of. It is one thing to plan for such deliveries, play it a million times in your head, but to nail them is a completely different story.
And Kyewuta absolutely NAILED that!
Despite that 18-run final over, Uganda conceded under 50 in the final five.
In the African Qualifiers, pacers Kyewuta and Juma Miyagi were a duo who that were feared by the batters at the death. They executed the Yorkers to perfection, often keeping the opposition to par totals in the end. Their effort was as crucial as anyone in the team. Today in Guyana, they not just did so against the mighty West Indies, but also, at a World Cup, which is truly commendable.
Yes, they could certainly improve on their ground fielding, their catching and also taking the stumping opportunities that come their way. Had they done that right, West Indies would have finished with 10-15 runs fewer.
Regardless, of how the rest of the tournament goes, they can take heart from the fact that they are not a bowling attack to be taken lightly. Kyewuta's figures in the tournament of five wickets at 16.80 and an economy rate of 7.52 shows how well he has led this bowling unit. That’s a massive achievement indeed for the World Cup debutants.
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