KAMPALA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The Uganda Cricket Cranes suffered a defeat to Jersey in their opening match of the ICC Cricket Challenge League B Tournament on Friday.
Jersey beat Uganda by 62 runs at the Lugogo Cricket Oval in Kampala.
Uganda elected to field first as the Jersey team came all out to pick 255/6 runs. Nick Greenwood and Josh Lawrenson were Jersey's highest run scorers with 80 and 43 runs respectively.
The hosts tried to pick early runs in the afternoon, but were lacking in the batting department as wickets kept falling at a fast rate. Ronak Patel was Uganda's highest scorer with 64 runs, while Simon Ssesazi had 50.
Since Uganda won all their five matches in the first round of the tournament hosted by Oman in 2019, they remain top of the log with 10 points, while Jersey moved to third place with six points.
Lawrence Mahatlane, Uganda's head coach told Xinhua that his team failed to play well today.
"We need to go back to the drawing board so that we improve in the next four matches," said Mahatlane.
Action returns on Saturday with Hong Kong of China facing Italy in the first match, before Kenya battling Bermuda in the second match at the Kyambogo Cricket ground.
The ICC Cricket Challenge League B is also a qualification pathway for associates to next year's 50 over World Cup.
The Challenge League B is played over three rounds with the top side after the three rounds moving on to the final round of qualifiers, which will be hosted by Jersey from July 28 to August 10 later this year. ■
