Delhi:
Frank Nsubuga says he and his teammatescouldn’t sleep. “When we returned home, it was like we were dreaming with openeyes,” he tells The Indian Express.
The throwback is to November 2023.Such was the occasion for the Uganda cricket team, who had managed to qualifyfor their first-ever ICC World Cup, pipping the likes of Zimbabwe and Kenya –known power centres in African cricket.
But howdid they get here? It would be wrong to consider their qualification as afluke. Not long after they made it to the T20 World Cup, Uganda successfullydefended their African T20 Cup title. It’s a competition that offers a stage tolesser-known sides in the continent, and of late, Uganda has emerged as acontender to compete at the pinnacle of the sport. But the ticket to the US andthe West Indies wasn’t earned in a day.
Since 2020, Uganda have won more T20Is thanany other nation. But while the quality of opposition they often face may notbe too high, there has been a conscious decision to play as many games aspossible. In fact, in the past four years, Uganda are only behind India,Pakistan and New Zealand in the number of T20Is played.
“For us, it started three and ahalf years ago,” says skipper Brian Masaba. “During the Covid outbreak,Lawrence Mahatlane became our coach. He drew a roadmap for us that ended withus playing at the 2024 T20 World Cup. He presented it to the board and theplayers, and we bought into it. After that, it was just about being verysincere about everything we did, the number of games we played, our practicesessions… all conversations were about having a chance of featuring at the T20World Cup.”