Kenya's Sharon Juma rues poor batting against UAE

Kenya's skipper Sharon Juma believes her batters should have done better against a United Arab Emirates (UAE) side that looked superb with the bat and bowled with intent in the first game of the Victoria Series played on Tuesday morning at the Lugogo Cricket Oval.

Kenya, who won the toss, elected to field fast as they restricted UAE to 84/9, but their batting let them down as they could only put up 69/9 before losing the game by 15 runs.

Vanessa Ouko picked up 14 runs off 28 balls, while Monicah Ndhambi added 11 off 22 balls as Kenya was limited to 69/10; Juma says her team struggled to bat, which cost them on the day.

"Our strategy was to field first and contain them at 80, which we did well, but our batting let us down, including me, because it wasn't the right time for me to come out," Juma told Pulse Sports.

"But also, you have to give them (UAE) credit; they bowled and fielded well, so in the next game, we shall improve on our batting," she added.

Juma was caught by Indhujar Nandakhumar after 4.3 overs, having picked up only ten runs off ten balls, including only one boundary.

For the United Arab Emirates, captain Chaya Mughal says her target against Kenya was set, and she knew her team would defend it.

"We scored more than 80 runs, and I knew we could defend it; we started well, and they had the experience, but we knew we had to work as a unit to win the game, and we did."

Chaya led the UAE, picking up 24 runs off 21 balls, including four boundaries, while Avanee Sunil Patil and Geethika Jyothis added 16 and 11 runs, respectively.

Matchday, two of the Victoria series, will see Rwanda face Kenya in the morning while Tanzania faces the UAE in the afternoon.

Wednesday fixtures

Tanzania vs UAE 9.30am

Rwanda vs Kenya 1.30 pm