Itanda Kayakers after being topped champions

FINAL RESULT

Bujjagali Rafters vs Itanda Kayakers

Toss: Bujjagali Rafters gained the toss and elected to bat
Bujjagali Rafters: 171/6 in 20 overs
Itanda Kayakers: 172/5 in 17.5 overs
Consequence: Itanda Kayakers gained 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 12 months and the formal begin of a packed 2026 calendar constructed round participant growth, expertise identification, and high-performance preparation.

Because the Elite League wrapped up throughout each the lads’s and girls’s competitions, it laid a robust 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 strain, efficiency, and figuring out who is prepared for the following degree.

Over intense days of high-quality cricket, the lads’s and girls’s Elite League tournaments introduced collectively senior nationwide workforce gamers, rising prospects, and Below-19 skills in a intentionally high-performance surroundings designed to disclose character as a lot as ability.

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 vital expertise identification software, giving the Excessive-Efficiency and choice groups a transparent, dependable base from which to plan for the 12 months forward.

We're happy to conclude an intense competitors targeted on figuring out expertise

Okia famous

This initiative provides us a broad pool of gamers to pick out from. Our main goal was expertise identification, and from a Excessive-Efficiency perspective, this can be a important step in the fitting course

That course is busy and demanding.

In 2026, Uganda will contest two ICC Below-19 World Cup qualifiers the lads in August and the ladies in October.

The senior males’s workforce faces a regional T20 qualifier and an important 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 growth plans ought to be positioned.

On the sphere, the Males’s Elite League ultimate 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 growth and a sustainable high-performance pipeline.

From Lugogo to the worldwide stage, the journey has begun — and 2026 guarantees to be a defining 12 months.

Consideration now turns to intense preparation throughout all ranges.

The senior groups enter a heavy coaching section, the ladies set their sights on the Ladies’s Day Cup, the lads journey to Namibia subsequent month for the Fortress Lite Collection, and the Below-19s transfer into regional qualifiers.

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Participant Of Match for the Closing– Simon Ssesazi (Itanda)

Promising Participant– Felix Ochan (Karuma)

Greatest Batter– Robinson Obuya (Bujjagali)

Greatest Bowler– Joseph Baguma (Bujjagali)

Most Precious Participant– Gerald Olipa (Bujjagali)

L-R Baguma, Ochan, Ssesazi, Obuya, Olipa