The weak fundamentals of the USA Women's lineup were exposed on both sides of the ball as a disciplined Uganda unit capitalized on numerous USA errors to hold on for an 11-run win in the finale of the Easter Cup. 

Photo credit: Cricket Uganda YouTube

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
An understrength USA Women’s squad had their weak fundamentals ruthlessly exposed yet again by a highly disciplined Uganda side as the hosts defended a total of 101 to defeat USA by 11 runs on Wednesday afternoon in the final T20 of the Easter Cup as the result at Entebbe Oval completed a 3-0 sweep for Uganda over the USA Women. 
 
Despite the fact that USA controlled significant portions of play, Uganda was consistently able to rally back to gain the upper hand due to their excellent foundational skills. Meanwhile, USA’s lapses in play on both sides of the ball highlighted numerous bad habits which have been developed by players at local level and have carried into their appearances with the USA national team. 
 
At the top of the list is USA’s poor fielding as Uganda capitalized on multiple missed chances to make USA pay dearly. After Maahi Madhavan struck in the second over to get opener Stephanie Nampiina to edge behind for 5, USA subsequently committed a series of miscues. The first of those came in the fourth over when Uganda captain Janet Mbabazi overbalanced trying to flick a length ball from USA captain Aditi Chudasama and briefly fell out of the crease, but wicketkeeper Aparna Gurumurthy fumbled a straightforward take to negate a possible stumping on 9. In the following over bowled by Ritu Singh, Mbabazi charged down the wicket and misses a wild heave only for Gurumurthy to once again have the ball go straight through her hands to miss a clear-cut stumping chance on 10. 
 
At the opposite end, Immaculate Nakisuuyi fell for 7 when she was bowled by a length ball from Madhavan in the sixth to make it 31 for 2 at the end of the Powerplay. However, USA’s fielding woes returned by the eighth over when Lekhy Shetty induced a skied chance on a leading edge that ballooned over point with Rita Musamali on 3, but Pooja Ganesh spilled a straightforward chance to allow her to continue all the way to the end of the innings. 
 
Mbabazi continued to punish USA, hitting Shetty for a boundary in the eighth over before slapping Taranum Chopra’s offspin to the rope again in the 10^th. Mbabazi’s stay finally came to an end for 31 in the 11^th when Singh teased her into a slog which came off a top edge and swirled in the air before coming down safely into the hands of Madhavan at midwicket in the ring to make it 56 for 3. 
 
Esther Iloku struggled to get going initially before hitting Singh for a boundary as part of a nine-run over in the 15^th to give Uganda some momentum heading into the death overs. But Chudasama snuffed out her innings for 14 in the following over a length delivery that kept low and bowled her for 14 to make it 75 for 4. Chudasama triggered a sequence of 12 dots in a row for USA as her wicket maiden was followed up by a maiden from legspinner Sainavi Kambalapalli in the 16^th to put the hosts under even more pressure. 
 
However, Uganda was once again the beneficiary of poor fielding as new batter Proscovia Alako appeared to be dropped on the first ball of the 18^th over on an edge behind the stumps that went off the gloves of Gurumurthy before going to short third for a single. Musamali then capitalized by milking three twos across the rest of the over to get Uganda’s scoring going once again. Alako fell in the 19^th to Madhavan, who continued her impressive day by bowling the right-hander for 3 with a length ball that kept low to make it 86 for 5. 
 
The wicket actually wound up proving to be more beneficial to Uganda than USA as it opened the door for Malisa Ariokot to provide a crucial late surge across the final seven balls of the innings in which Uganda added 15 runs. Ariokot ended the 19^th over with a two off Madhavan. After a single got her back on strike in the 20^th, she struck a two before trading singles with Musamali to get back on strike for the final two balls against Chopra. Ariokot went for the slog sweep to deep midwicket and a misfield by Bhogle allowed the ball to go to the rope for four. On the final delivery of the innings, Ariokot brought out the slog sweep once again and connected straighter between midwicket and long-on where Kambalapalli slid past the ball after running to her right and allowed it to get past for another boundary to take Uganda past 100 for a 13-run final over. 
 
Madhavan ended with 3 for 13 off three overs to lead USA in the field. Chudasama took 1 for 15 in four overs while Singh took 1 for 20 off four but was also significantly let down by her fielders yet again in the series. Kambalapalli’s spell of 0 for 13 off four overs went unrewarded while Chopra ended as USA’s most expensive bowler, conceding 0 for 31 off four in which the fielding behind her was also an issue. Shetty bowled a solitary over for six runs. 
 
USA’s chase started off in reasonably bright manner with Kambalapalli and Chetna Pagydyala combining for a swift 25-run opening stand. Kambalapalli was aggressive in going over the top of the infield for boundaries in the first and second overs while Pagydyala played a beautiful straight drive to beat mid-off for her lone boundary in the fourth over. 
 
But the intervention of eventual Player of the Match Nakisuuyi in the fifth over ended the partnership, which wound up being USA’s highest of the match, when a length ball from the offspinner kept very low below a pull shot from Pagydyala and resulted in an lbw decision for 8. Nakisuuyi then removed Kambalapalli for 18 in the seventh when the right-hander failed to get enough elevation on a pull shot to clear Iloku at short midwicket, who took a superb leaping catch to hang on to a chance reaching high above her head to make it 39 for 2. After a pulled four got her innings started in the sixth, Isani Vaghela was cruising along to 19 before she fell to former captain Consy Aweko’s offspin, bowled in the 10^th to make it 55 for 3. 
 
According to the required run rate, USA was still in a more advantageous position needing 47 runs off 61 balls with seven wickets in hand. But their brittle middle-order collapsed swiftly once again as Nakisuuyi took her third in the following over, winning an lbw decision against Gargi Bhogle on a failed sweep for 1 to make it 58 for 4. Singh’s horrid tour with the bat came to a quiet end in the 14^th as a failed slog sweep resulted in her being bowled for 2 off 10 balls by Nakisuuyi to make it 63 for 5. 
 
Gurumurthy’s inexperience in her debut batting appearance for USA showed in the 16^th over as another unforced error made the chase more difficult for USA when she failed to ground her bat at the start of an attempted second run and the umpires called her one short. From needing comfortably less than a run a ball at the halfway stage, USA entered the final four overs needing a suddenly daunting 27 off 24 balls having failed to hit a boundary since the fifth over. 
 
Ganesh’s graft finally came to an end two balls into the 17^th when Mbabazi teased her into a charge down the wicket only to be beaten by sharp turn and stumped for 14 to make it 75 for 6 as only the tail remained for USA. The door was left ajar for USA to make a rally when Uganda was called for a no ball on a fielding violation for having too many fielders outside of the 25-yard circle. But Chudasama could only manage a single on the free hit as USA entered the last three overs needing 21 off 18 balls. 
 
Gurumurthy tried to atone for her earlier lackadaisical running by turning to come back for a second on a ball hit toward the cover boundary by Chudasama in the 18^th, but the USA captain was content to settle for a single and turned Gurumurthy back. However, Gurumurthy was late in receiving the call and by the time she tried to return to the striker’s end, the relay from Nampiina to wicketkeeper Kevin Awino arrived in plenty of time to dismiss Gurumurthy for 8 at 83 for 7. 
 
USA entered the 19^th needing 17 to win off 12 balls, but Uganda had the match wrapped up by the end of the over. Opening pacer Irene Mutonyi returned for a death spell and put the final nails in the coffin for USA by taking the last three wickets. She began the over by bowling Chudasama on a heave across the line for 5. After conceding an edged boundary through short third by Chopra, Mutonyi came back on the next ball to induce a chipped drive to cover that was brilliantly caught by Alako diving forward. No. 11 Shetty came out for the final ball of the over and was promptly bowled to end the match. 
 
Aside from Nakisuuyi’s match-winning 4 for 17, Mutonyi ended with 3 for 15 off her three overs. Mbabazi was unplayable at times during her 1 for 18 off four overs, with four of her runs conceded through extras. Aweko took 1 for 21 off her four overs. Left-arm spinner Sarah Akiteng, who took back-to-back four-wicket hauls against USA in the first two wins for Uganda, ended with 0 for 18 off four overs. 
 
The USA squad will travel to Rwanda now to take part in the inaugural ICC Women’s Challenge where USA will play eight matches in the double round-robin event that also includes the hosts, Nepal, Italy and Vanuatu. USA’s first match is scheduled for April 18 against Nepal.