Akeal Hosein flummoxed Uganda batters with arm balls on his way to his best-ever T20 figures of 5 for 11 as West Indies recorded a thumping 134-run win over Uganda. The debutant side at the showpiece event were brought crashing down after their highs of their first-ever World Cup win – over PNG – from three days ago. Uganda were bundled out for 39 – the joint-lowest total in men’s T20 World Cup history.
This win gives West Indies a crucial NRR boost as they attempt to match Afghanistan’s gallop in Group C. The result is also a dent on New Zealand’s Super-Eights aspirations, who have lost the only game they’ve played so far and have a severely negative NRR.
Where was the game won?
PowerPlay. Hosein started the Uganda procession, picking a wicket each in his three overs in the PowerPlay. Romario Shepherd and Andre Russell caused some damage too, to leave Uganda five down by the end of the PowerPlay and with no real way back from there.
The PowerPlay difference
| Parameters | West Indies | Uganda |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | 54/1 | 22/5 |
| RR | 9 | 4.4 |
| 4s/6s | 6/3 | 3/0 |
West Indies
PowerPlay: King falls but WI keep up fast start
Phase score – 54/1 [RR: 9.00, 4s/6s: 6/3]
The hosts got going with a 15-run third over where the two openers Johnson Charles and Brandon King combined to hit three fours off medium-pacer Juma Miyagi. Charles enjoyed a reprieve in the following over when he was dropped at mid-on but his batting partner didn’t have such luck. Alpesh Ramjani conceded 12 but also got rid of the opener, beating him on the inside edge with a quick one that crashed the stumps. Nicholas Pooran however, came out swinging and West Indies finished the phase with a sizeable score.
Middle-overs: Uganda use spin to slow the progress
Phase score – 70/2 [RR: 7.78, 4s/6s: 3/4]
Uganda’s celebrated veteran spinner Frank Nsubuga arrived to bowl in tandem with his captain Brian Masaba in an attempt to slow things down. Charles and Pooran took 10 off Nsubuga’s first over but only 11 came from the next two bowled by the spinners before Pooran perished while attempting to break away. Rovman Powell too came out swinging and stamped his authority in the 15-run 11th over that took West Indies to triple figures. Masaba however, kept turning to spin in search of breakthroughs and found another through left-arm spinner Dinesh Nakrani, who ended Charles’s innings on 44 off 42.
Death-overs: Final over breaks Uganda’s resolve
Phase score – 49/2 [RR: 9.80, 4s/6s: 7/0]
Uganda grew in confidence with the ball and didn’t concede a single six in this period, but their attempt to close out the innings well was sullied by an 18-run last over. Masaba started the proceedings in this period with an exceptional over where only four runs were given away while also dismissing Powell. That brought Andre Russell to the crease but Uganda did well to keep him at bay… until the final over. Cosmos Kyewuta returned to dismiss Sherfane Rutherford in the 18th over and Juma Miyagi gave away just 7 in the 19th. Kyewuta’s attempts to bowl full and wide to Russell in the final over were sound but Uganda lacked luck. After Rusell muscled one through extra cover and behind point, the next two fours were off outside edges. It took West Indies to a more-than-sufficient total of 173/5.
Uganda
PowerPlay: WI wipe out half the side
Phase score – 22/5 [RR: 4.40, 4s/6s: 3/0]
Hosein signalled Uganda’s downfall as early as the second delivery of the chase, as Brian Musaka missed an arm ball while attempting a reverse sweep and fell LBW. In his next over, Hosein bowled a little quicker and slightly shorter to trap Alpesh Ramjani leg before. Rovman Powell went back to his spinner for a third over in the PowerPlay and earned more rewards. Hosein picked his third by setting up the right-handed Riazat Ali Shah as he got a couple of deliveries to turn away from him before unfurling another arm ball that knocked back the stumps. Interspersed between each of these three wickets were two more – one for Romario Shepherd as he had Simon Ssesazi caught at mid-on, and one for Russell, who got a length ball seam away and hit the top of off-stump of Robinson Obuya.
Middle-overs: Uganda flummoxed further by Hosein
Phase score – 17/5 [RR: 2.83, 4s/6s: 0/0]
As expected, Powell bowled out Hosein in a row and came away with two more wickets. Hosein, who’d shown his mastery with the arm ball until this point, cleaned up the left-handed Dinesh Nakrani with a classical left-arm spinner’s delivery by breaching the bat-pad gap with generous turn. He completed his fifer a couple of balls later with yet another arm ball that trapped Kenneth Waiswa leg before. Hosein’s bowling figures of 5 for 11 are the best-ever by a West Indian in T20 World Cup history, surpassing Samuel Badree’s 4-15 against Bangladesh in 2014. Every batter who departed went for single-digit scores as Uganda fell away in 12 overs, with Alzarri Joseph (2-6) and Gudakesh Motie (1-6) mopping up the tail quickly.
Brief Scores:West Indies 173/5 in 20 overs (Johnson Charles 44, Andre Russell 30*; Brian Masaba 2-31) beat Uganda 39 in 12 overs (Akeal Hosein 5-11, Alzarri Joseph 2-6) by 134 runs
What next?
After a five-day break, Uganda will face New Zealand in Trinidad for their last group-stage. West Indies have a shorter turnaround time of three days before taking on New Zealand in Trinidad on June 12.
