Uganda Cricket has decided to leave no stone unturned in their quest to gain promotion back to Div 3 with build up tours to Qatar and India. The team which was flagged this morning by National Council of Sports Assistant Secretary General David Katende will be led by Roger Mukasa in the absence of regular Captain Davis Karashani who opted out of the tour due to a tight work schedule.
Uganda will face 5 other nations in the Div 4 qualifiers scheduled in April in Malaysia in a bid to gain promotion to Div 3, Coach Steve Tikolo was confident this is a reality
The players we have are not Div 4 material and we have worked very hard to make sure we are successful in Malaysia, on this tour we have gone with a mix of youth and experience and this will give us a chance to test new players before we make the final cut for Malaysia.
Uganda has selected a team of 17 players for the Qatar leg of the tour, with Llyod Paternnot joining the team from his UK base, 4 youngsters from the U19 team have made the step up with team captain Kenneth Waiswa, Trevor Bukenya, Trevor Bukenya and Fred Achelam making the grade. Bilal Hassan and Riaz Khan keep their places in their side since they made their debuts during the Cricket Builds Hope tournament in Rwanda.
Davis Karashani, Arthur Kyobe, Jonathan Ssebanja, Arnold Otwani and Lawrence Ssematimba who were part of the Div 3 campaign gave way for the new players on the side but they all remain in contention for the final team to Malaysia.
Stand in team Captain Roger Mukasa was in confident that they can measure up to some of the best in the world
I played in India last year and it was tough due to the quality of cricket and weather but am sure we have prepared so hard and am certain we can put our skills to the proper test.
They will play 3 T20 games and 2 ODIs in Qatar from Feb 8th to Feb 13th before they travel their Indian base in Mumbai. In India the team will be hosted by Sanjay Cricket Farm where they will play 4 ODI games and 2 T20 games from Feb 16th to Feb 22nd.
Steven Wambose and Isaneez Emmanuel will join the team on the Indian league of the tour as Bilal Hassan, Riaz Khan and Afridi Irfan can only be part of the Qatar league of the tour.
The team is led by Steve Tikolo as head coach, Jackson Ogwang as assistant coach, Alvin Bagaya as Data Analyst, Kalusum Habib as Physiotherapist, Innocent Ndawula as media manager and Jackson Kavuma as Team Manager.