Uganda opt to bowl against PNG in search of first T20 World Cup win

Uganda need 71 runs in 106 balls.

Uganda captain Brian Masaba decided to bowl against Papua New Guinea in their Group C match of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Providence, Guyana.

PNG brought in pace bowler Norman Vanua to replace Kabua Morea. Uganda made three changes. They dropped Ronak Patel, Henry Ssenyondo and Bilal Hassun to bring in Kenneth Waiswa, Juma Miyagi and 43-year-old Frank Nsubuga, the oldest player in the competition.

PNG, appearing in their second T20 World Cup, jolted co-hosts West Indies in their opening game in this group, pushing them to score 40 runs in the last four overs. Roston Chase and Andre Russell got West Indies home but it was a decent fight from PNG.

No. 4 Sese Bau made a slick half-century before captain Assad Vala led the bowling effort that left West Indies in trouble.

First timers Uganda, however, didn’t make such a good start, as Afghanistan crushed them by 125 runs on their World Cup debut.

In the ICC T20I team rankings, PNG are at No. 20, while Uganda are two places below.

Papua New Guinea: 1 Tony Ura, 2 Assad Vala (capt), 3 Lega Siaka,4 Sese Bau, 5 Hiri Hiri, 6 Charles Amini, 7 Kiplin Doriga (wk), 8 Chad Soper, 9 Norman Vanua, 10 Alei Nao, 11 John Kariko

Uganda: 1 Roger Mukasa, 2 Simon Ssesazi (wk), 3 Robinson Obuya, 4 Riazat Shah, 5 Dinesh Nakrani, 6 Kenneth Waiswa, 7 Alpesh Ramjani, 8 Brian Masaba (capt), 9 Juma Miyaji, 10 Cosmas Kyewuta, 11 Frank Nsubuga

Mohammad Isam is ESPNcricinfo’s Bangladesh correspondent. @isam84

Powered by Smart Stats

Instant answers to T20 questions

ICC Men’s T20 World Cup