Gerald's Eight Sixes Settle the Dress Rehearsal: Uganda Hand Kenya Their First Defeat on the Eve of the Final

Six days ago in Kigali, Dhiren Gondaria hit 94 from 47 balls and Kenya chased down Uganda's 189 with eight wickets in hand. On Friday the two best sides in the tournament met again with the final already theirs to contest, and the league's last word belonged to Uganda.

Olipa Gerald, who had made 53 in that earlier defeat, made 95 this time, with eight sixes. Uganda posted 197 for 7 and bowled Kenya out for 150 with an over to spare. Kenya's unbeaten run ends at seven, both sides finish on 14 points, and Uganda go into Saturday's final as the table-toppers on net run rate — and with the more recent memory.

Uganda did not start like a side about to post nearly 200. Anas Baig and Robinson Obuya were both gone inside four overs with 23 on the board, and when Charles Musemez was run out at the end of the eighth, Uganda were 57 for 3 and Kenya were in control.

What happened next was the partnership of the tournament's closing week. Gerald and Riazat Ali Shah added 80 in a little over eight overs for the fourth wicket, Riazat's 32 from 19 providing the tempo while Gerald found his range. Riazat fell in the seventeenth over with the score 137 for 4. Gerald went on until the nineteenth, falling for 95 from 52 balls with Uganda on 181 — eight sixes and six fours, 72 of his runs in boundaries. Kenneth Waiswa's 17 from 10 and a late six from Cosmas Kyewuta pushed the total to 197.

Kenya's batting in this tournament has run through Dhiren Gondaria — 94 against Uganda on the 12th, 93 not out against Botswana on Thursday. On Friday he made 11 from 12 and was out in the fifth over with Kenya 39 for 2, Rushab Patel having already gone for a duck in the first. Rakep Patel's 33 from 23 kept the rate respectable until the eighth over, and Kenya were 88 for 4 just before the halfway mark — behind the rate, but not out of it on this ground.

But the middle order could not produce a second big innings. From 113 for 5 in the fifteenth over, four wickets fell for 15 runs in 13 balls and the chase was over. Nitish Hirani and Peter Langat added 22 for the last wicket to take the total to 150. Twenty-five of those came in extras, which tells you Uganda were not at their tidiest with the ball either — and that Kenya's batters, between them, scored 125.

Gahanga has been a run-scoring ground all tournament and Friday was no different: 347 runs in 39 overs, with 18 sixes between the two sides. Joseph Baguma's four overs for 16 were the most economical of the match, and the two three-wicket hauls — Enock Kasaija's 3 for 28 and Juma Miyagi's 3 for 39 — came from bowlers who kept taking wickets even when they were being hit.

Some innings are remembered for their numbers and some for their timing. Gerald's had both. He walked in with Uganda in trouble against the one side that had beaten them, and batted until the last two overs, taking the attack apart without ever looking hurried. Eight sixes in a T20 innings would be remarkable anywhere; eight sixes in a match that decided who tops the table, against the tournament's unbeaten side, the day before the final, is the kind of innings a team carries into the next game.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the final.

Uganda and Kenya meet again in the final on Saturday, September 19, at Gahanga. The head-to-head now reads one win apiece: Kenya by eight wickets on the 12th, Uganda by 47 runs on the 18th. Kenya will want Gondaria back to his best; Uganda will want Gerald to do it again. On current form, it is as close to a coin toss as a final gets.