By Jejje Muhinde;
Tanzania have made an explosive start to their campaign, and they will now look to keep their momentum going in the Africa T20 World Cup Finals in Kigali, Rwanda.
They are sitting at the top of the points table with wins in their first two games. While they beat Nigeria by six wickets in their opening game, they defeated Kenya by 49 runs in the second.
Kenya began their campaign positively on Wednesday, winning the first game against Uganda by one run. However, they lost their second to Tanzania by 49 runs in the Africa T20 World Cup final in Kigali.
Meanwhile, Uganda are second in the points table with one win and a loss after two matches.
They lost their opening game to Kenya by one run, but came back strongly to defeat Nigeria by 12 runs (DLS method) in a rain-affected fixture. They will try to build some momentum now by winning consecutive games.
Kenya won the toss and elected to bat posting a big total of 162/5 in their 20 overs. Collins Obuya managed (44), Irfan Karim (36) and Rakeep Patel (28 not out) repaired the damage to help Simba post 162.
In the chase Uganda were nearly out of the game inside 2.3 overs with Kenya have picked up four wickets leaving the cricket cranes railing at 4/4. Uganda posted 160/7 in their 20 overs.
Uganda will need to win all their winning games to be able to progress to the finals.
Nigeria have had a terrible run in the competition so far, losing their first two matches.
They lost their opening game to Tanzania by six wickets, before losing to Uganda by 12 runs (DLS method). They need a win to stay alive in the competition.
Action continues on Thursday, with Tanzania facing Uganda at Gahanga cricket ground in the morning before battling Nigeria in the afternoon game at IPRC.
The four-day tournament, which runs until November 20, has attracted four countries where the winner progresses to the global qualifiers early next year.
Uganda and Tanzania reached the final stages of the qualifiers through a sub-regional tournament recently played in Rwanda.
Kenya and Nigeria, the two highest ranked teams as of 1 January 2020, progressed directly to the regional final.
