Frank Nsubuga second-oldest player to debut in T20 WC

Uganda's Frank Nsubuga becomes the second oldest player to debut at the T20 World Cup at the age of 43 years and 283 days. He takes field for Uganda in their second game of the T20 World Cup 2024 against Papua New Guinea (PNG) at the Providence Stadium, Guyana. 

Ryan Campbell, who made his first appearance in the tournament at the age of 44 years and 30 days at the T20 World Cup 2016 for Hong Kong against Zimbabwe remains the oldest player to feature in the tournament.

Uganda finished second in the African Qualifiers, most notably, beating Zimbabwe in the tournament to progress to the World Cup. 

Nsubuga, who started playing competitive cricket right from the early 90s, has been one of the mainstays in the Ugandan side, having notched up 54 T20 Internationals (T20I) before this, picking up 55 wickets with his off-spin bowling. He also holds the record for bowling the most maidens (15) in T20I cricket.

“I started playing for the national team when I was 14 years old. Then we used to play a tournament called Zone Six East Africa tournaments [Zone Six African Cricket Confederation Championship]...Kenya, Uganda, those kind of teams. That's when I started my cricket, that's 27 years ago," Nsubuga said in a chat with Cricket.com after Uganda's qualification.

“I played my club cricket in South Africa when I was playing for Lenasia Cricket Club, I played in the Kenyan League. Those are the things that made my cricket come up. I work hard and keep myself very fit.

Uganda, who are playing their maiden World Cup, got off to the worst possible start as they were brushed aside by Afghanistan in the first game. They were bundled out for just 58 and went on to lose the game by 125 runs. As a result, Uganda made three changes to their XI with Juma Miyagi and Kenneth Waiswa coming in to the XI along with Nsubuga with Ronak Patel, Bilal, and Henry Ssenyondo missing out.

Against PNG, they won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Barramundis too are coming off the back of a loss against West Indies. They pushed the two-time champions really close after putting up 136 on the board but eventually lost by five wickets. Both PNG and Uganda are yet to win a match in the World Cup. with the former making their debut in the tournament in 2021.

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