It is yet another competitive season for the Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) with the season opener Luswata Cup already underway.

The trophy is up for grabs and one of the seven participating teams will emerge champions after five Sundays of the competitive knock out tournament played in honor of the late UCA chairman Fred Luswata.

Tornado holds the trophy and below them are Africa, Wanderers, Nile, JACC, Destroyers and Premier cricket clubs.

Africa Cricket Club (ACC) showed interests for the trophy on Sunday, January 27 after beating the once mighty Premier CC by 62 runs at Kyambogo oval. The side amassed 202/10 runs in 34.2 overs and the opponents responded with a paltry 150/10 with 12 overs at hand. Tornado opened its campaign against JACC last Sunday while record holder Wanderers took on Nile on different ovals.

UCA calendar shows no laxity in the 2002 season as even more international events have been added for the national squad.

The inaugural ICC East Africa under-17 boys and open women tournament will be hosted by the local governing body in Kampala (March 27-April 3) and arrangements are already under way.

Uganda will also participate in the Malaysian Challenge tournament in Malaysia (May 22-26) and also send a development squad to the East and Central Africa quadrangular slated for Zambia in September.

After a splendid performance in the Africa Cricket Cup last hosted in Kenya in 2000 where the side emerged fourth below powerful cricket nations like South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe, Uganda will again send a senior squad to the same tournament in Zambia, September.

The international scene will be crowned with the East Africa U-19 boys and Under-15 boys alongside the open women tournament in December hosted by Tanzania and Kenya respectively.

A lot is expected from the Ugandan lads in these tournaments contemplating on their impressive performance in the 2001 championships. The under-19 boys lifted the trophy in Kenya beating the Kenyan squad by four wickets. The under-18 girls came second below Tanzania while the under-15 boys were knocked out on net run rate and finished third below Kenya and Tanzania A team.

On the local scene, UCA hosted the third ICC sponsored local students' academy that ran for two weeks in January. ICC regional development officer Tom Tikolo conducted the academy alongside other resourceful persons like former cricketers John Nagenda and Abbey Lutaya among others.

The British Council stepped in to sponsor the first ever women academy that attracted 14 girls from different participating schools in Uganda. Again The British Council under its brand `Dreams and Teams' project injected some funds to facilitate a one-week female teachers academy that ended Friday (1/Feb/2002) conducted by local development officer William Kamanyi.

To keep the running of cricket affairs healthy, the Uganda Cricket Association will hold an Annual General Meeting on Feburary 21 where a new executive is to be elected in office.

Francis Kazinduki and his executive could sail back into offices after showing a high degree of performance in just one year.

The annual national league sponsored by Bank of Baroda is set to start April 14 and will end in September. 2001 entrants Destroyers CC are the defending champions and have a big challenge ahead after losing two of their best cricketers Kenneth Kamyuka and Lawrence Ssematimba currently in South Africa for professional tasks.

The annual schools cricket week sponsored by Coca-Cola is slated for September after the mini cricket festivals in March.

Touring teams from the United Kingdom and South Africa are expected in the country in March and May respectively.

A new league to involve inactive cricketers alongside those who retired has also been established this season and will kick off on February 16. In the league are professional groups like the journalists, administrators, engineers and expatriates.

That is the busy season for the Uganda Cricket Association and as before, everything is expected to run according to the calendar.

© ICC 2002