Eagles crush Ugandan Cranes

The Namibian Eagles’ supremacy over the Ugandan Cranes continued when they crushed them by ten wickets in their first 50-over match at the Trustco United field. 

Last week the Eagles remained unbeaten in their T20 series after winning all four their matches, and yesterday they romped to an emphatic win after a starring role by offspinner Helao Ya France. 

He cut through Uganda’s middle order, taking a career best six wickets for 22 runs off 8,1 overs, as Uganda crashed to 127 all out, before Namibia’s opening batters Shaun Fouche and Lohan Louwrens comfortably reached the target with half their overs remaining. 

After winning the toss and sending Uganda in to bat, Namibia got an early breakthrough when Ruben Trumpelmann dismissed Ugandan captain Brian Masaba for one run. 

Kenneth Waiswa and Ronald Lutaaya started Uganda’s fightback with a 30-run partnershiip before Jan Frylinck dismissed the latter for 19, while Alpesh Ramjani continued their revival with a 42-run partnership before Ya France struck. 

He trapped Ramjani LBW for 23 and bowled Waiswa for 42,  and when he dismissed Cyrus Kakuru (6) and Pascal Muungi (0) within three balls, Uganda  had slumped to 98 for six wickets. 

Dinesh Nakrani (17) and Fred Achelam (14) added some resistance lower down the order, but it did not last long before Ya France and pace bowler Ruben Trumpelmann cleaned up the tail.

Ya France was Namibia’s stand-out bowler, while Trumpelmann also had fine figures of 3/18 off eight overs. 

The total was never a problem for Namibia’s openers as they paced their run chase to perfection to reach the target off only 25,1 overs. 

Louwrens remained not out on 76 which came off 89 balls and included nine fours and two sixes, while Fouche remained not out on 48 off 64 balls, which included four fours. 

The final 50-over match takes place at the same venue tomorrow, starting at 09h30.