ENTEBBE, Uganda, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Uganda registered their first win against visiting Papua New Guinea in the third match of the cricket international friendly series.
The hosts defeated the visitors by 43 runs after batting first and putting on 178/10 in 45.3 overs. Papua New Guinea chased and collapsed at 135/10 in 40.2 overs in the match played at the Entebbe Cricket Oval.
Juma Miyagi was the star player for the Uganda Cricket Cranes collecting 31 runs, while Shrideep Mangela picked 22 runs. Raghav Dhawan and Dinesh Nakrani both collected 21 runs each.
The Ugandan team found their bowling prowess, giving Papua New Guinea no chance with only two players picking double figures. Assadollah Vala registered a game-high 66 runs, while Tony Pala Ura collected 35 runs.
Papua New Guinea won the first two matches, and the last match will be played on Sunday.
Uganda's head coach Abhay Sharma said that he was impressed with the effort shown by his players. "The team was good while battling and the bowling was also a much improved display than the first two matches," he added.
Papua New Guinea use the matches against Uganda to prepare ahead of their Challenge League A first leg in Kenya which starts later this month, while Uganda are also preparing for the International Cricket Council first leg of the Challenge League B in November.
During the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup, Uganda picked only one win against Papua New Guinea. ■