By Marion Malinga
Match Summary
Namibia 105/4 20 overs
Uganda 101/5 20 overs
Namibia won by 4 runs.
Victoria Pearls head coach Suraj Karavadra maintained a positive attitude in spite of his side's 4 run loss to the Capricorn Eagles of Namibia on Thursday at the T20 Africa Women's World Cup Qualifiers that commenced this morning in Gaborone, Botswana.
Heading into their batting innings, Uganda had felt confident of coming tops after restricting Namibia to only 105 runs. It however, didn't go as hoped as they fell short of the chase. The target was 106 runs, but Uganda who won this tournament in 2017 only managed 101 for 7.
Uganda won the toss and elected to bowl first, a decision that turned out quite well given their fantastic bowling and fielding. They had hoped to come out even better and more convincing in the batting innings, but it was not to be. Although that was the case, Karavadra kept the optimistic hat on.
"The result didn't go to our favour today, but if you look at the positives that came out today, our bowling innings, to restrict a team like Namibia to only 105 in 20 overs is definitely something to be very very proud of.
"Our fielding has been on point as well today. Going into a tournament with the fire like that is very good. Our spinners have done a very good job today. I'm so proud of the way we bowled."
Karavadra while pointing out his team's weakness in their opening game of the tournament also commended his batting lot.
"There was a lot of positives in our batting innings especially towards the second half of the innings. We were scoring regularly, taking quick singles, hitting boundaries and working together in partnerships which is one of the things we've been working on.
"The only thing that I think we could've done a little bit better was the first power play. I don't think we utilized that well. If we did, it would definitely have been a very different story.
"It was a game of very small margins. A lot of positives came out of it. A few bits of improvement we need to look at, but it's still not the end of us. We still got many games to go and we can still reach the finals and still lift the trophy."
Uganda play Sierra Leone next on Saturday.
