Itanda Kayakers after being topped champions
FINAL RESULT
Bujjagali Rafters vs Itanda Kayakers
Toss: Bujjagali Rafters received the toss and elected to bat
Bujjagali Rafters: 171/6 in 20 overs
Itanda Kayakers: 172/5 in 17.5 overs
End result: Itanda Kayakers received by 5 wickets
The conclusion of the Waterfalls Males’s T20 Elite League at Lugogo Cricket Oval final Saturday marked greater than the crowning of Itanda Kayakers as champions.
It represented the profitable completion of Cricket Uganda’s first main exercise of the yr and the formal begin of a packed 2026 calendar constructed round participant improvement, expertise identification, and high-performance preparation.
Because the Elite League wrapped up throughout each the boys’s and girls’s competitions, it laid a powerful basis for the challenges and alternatives that lie forward on the regional and international stage.
For Cricket Uganda, the Elite League was by no means nearly silverware. It was about constructing a pathway.
About stress, efficiency, and figuring out who is prepared for the subsequent stage.
Over intense days of high-quality cricket, the boys’s and girls’s Elite League tournaments introduced collectively senior nationwide staff gamers, rising prospects, and Underneath-19 skills in a intentionally high-performance surroundings designed to disclose character as a lot as talent.
Because the curtain fell on the competitors, Head of Excessive-Efficiency Richard Okia mirrored on its wider affect with optimism.
He described the Elite League as a important expertise identification software, giving the Excessive-Efficiency and choice groups a transparent, dependable base from which to plan for the yr forward.
We’re happy to conclude an intense competitors centered on figuring out expertise
Okia famous
This initiative offers us a broad pool of gamers to pick out from. Our major goal was expertise identification, and from a Excessive-Efficiency perspective, it is a important step in the proper path
That path is busy and demanding.
In 2026, Uganda will contest two ICC Underneath-19 World Cup qualifiers the boys in August and the ladies in October.
The senior males’s staff faces a regional T20 qualifier and a vital 50-over Problem League B leg, a direct pathway towards ODI standing and World Cup qualification.
For the ladies, the main focus stays on climbing international rankings with ODI cricket firmly in sight.
The Elite League now serves as a compass, guiding the place funding, teaching focus, and particular person improvement plans ought to be positioned.
On the sphere, the Males’s Elite League closing delivered a becoming climax.
Bujjagali Rafters posted a aggressive 171 for six, anchored by Gerald Olipa’s polished 54 off 35 balls, whereas Kenneth Ogenrwot led Itanda’s bowling with figures of three for 29.
In reply, Itanda Kayakers confirmed maturity and composure, with Simon Ssesazi producing a match-winning unbeaten 76 off 52 balls to steer his aspect to a five-wicket victory with greater than two overs to spare.
Past the consequence, the larger win was readability.
The Elite League sharpened focus for selectors, coaches, and gamers alike, reinforcing Cricket Uganda’s dedication to structured participant improvement and a sustainable high-performance pipeline.
From Lugogo to the worldwide stage, the journey has begun — and 2026 guarantees to be a defining yr.
Consideration now turns to intense preparation throughout all ranges.
The senior groups enter a heavy coaching section, the ladies set their sights on the Girls’s Day Cup, the boys journey to Namibia subsequent month for the Citadel Lite Sequence, and the Underneath-19s transfer into regional qualifiers.
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Participant Of Match for the Last– Simon Ssesazi (Itanda)
Promising Participant– Felix Ochan (Karuma)
Greatest Batter– Robinson Obuya (Bujjagali)
Greatest Bowler– Joseph Baguma (Bujjagali)
Most Invaluable Participant– Gerald Olipa (Bujjagali)
L-R Baguma, Ochan, Ssesazi, Obuya, Olipa
