Continent Cup T20: Epic battle between Kenya and Uganda set for Wednesday

Two East African giants - Kenya and Uganda - will on Wednesday afternoon lock horns in the final of the inaugural four-nations Continent Cup T20 Africa Tournament in what will be the fourth meeting between the two sides in little less than two weeks time.

The game will be a 1400EAT kickoff at the Nairobi Gymkhana Grounds in Nairobi, Kenya.

“We don’t expect a huge score on Wednesday,” Kenyan skipper Rakep Patel said on the prospect of playing the Cranes in the final. “Our plan should be on what to do with the bat. Keeping the scores high, maybe a 140 will put us in a good position to win.”

In the three round-robin fixtures the two sides have faced off, Kenya has only won once, losing in the last two fixtures - including the latest, last Sunday at the same venue.

Then, opening batsman Simon Ssesazi went on to have an impressive performance as he scored 56 runs not out, sealing a 5 wickets victory on Day 8.

“I would say Kenya are a really strong side that we are always wary of and know their potential,” Ssesazi said when asked about what his team thought about the hosts. “We know we have beaten them twice but that's not something we should lean on heading to the finals. They did pull a big game on us in the first game, our approach is never changing. We will prepare for them as seriously as we can.”

The sole victory Kenya had over Uganda came on 10 June when - led by Collins Obuya 96 runs - powered through to a convincing 88 run victory putting up 185 for 3 in their second match then.

“The pitch is already worn out and it will be key to win the toss,” Kenya’s head coach David Obuya said of the final. “Our trajectory is upward given we hadn’t trained for long. Now, we have to favor our spinners in the innings because they can easily collect wickets to win the game.”

Continent Cup T20: Naughty Uganda squeak past Kenya in final's curtain raiser

The other sides in the tournament were Botswana - who will walk home with a historic win over Kenya in their second match-up - and Rwanda, winners of two games in the series.

In the group stages, Uganda led the way with eight wins out of nine (16 points), Kenya second with (12 points) with Botswana - on four points - finishing ahead of fourth placed Rwanda by a Net-Run-Rate advantage.