What next for Cricket Cranes after failing ODI test?

ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League

Uganda 266/6 Jersey 271/5 (Jersey win by five wickets)

Italy 119 Uganda 122/3 (Uganda win by seven wickets)

Kenya 172/9 Uganda 136 (Kenya win by 36 runs)

Uganda 314/4 Bermuda 161 (Uganda win by 153 runs)

Uganda 397/3 Hong Kong 179 (Uganda win by 218 runs)

Up to the last bit of action, the Cricket Cranes were still fighting.

Up to the last ball, up to the wire.

It was an admirable show of sportsmanship from Deus Muhumuza's side, who were playing for pride in a dead rubber against Hong Kong.

With Jersey having amassed an insurmountable advantage in net run rate, Uganda, two points behind the hosts going into the last day of action, was playing for second place.

Jersey knew it, the Cricket Cranes knew it.

The defeat to Jersey on the opening day of the third round of the ICC World Cricket Challenge League had wrestled the advantage at the top of the standings from Uganda, and credit to the hosts, they wouldn’t let it out of their grasp.

As Uganda come to terms with the failure to attain ODI status, the future looks shrouded in mystery.

For one, how much priority will the UCA devote to ODI cricket in the vacuum years, if that is how long the ICC takes to schedule competition for associates without ODI status?

Uganda coach Lawrence Mahatlane hinted at 2025 as the next time the Cricket Cranes are likely to return to One Day action. That’s enough time to build on Uganda’s achievements from the Challenge League and improve the Cricket Cranes.

But it is also enough time to lose one's way and fall behind the competition in the race for ODI qualification at the next available opportunity.

Immediate former UCA chief executive Martin Ondeko has warned that any retreat in sport governing body UCA’s ODI commitment would be ill-advised. Ondeko believes it all starts with keeping and exploiting Mahatlane’s expertise.

“I believe you have to 150% keep Mahatlane around,” says Ondeko.

“The man has been here for less than two years and look at what he has done in that time. If the national team is not so busy you can involve him in development, in the U-19 and in camps.

“He has a lot of knowledge; this is someone who has been to five World Cups as a coach. He has a lot of knowledge he can impart to the young players, who are going to be on the national team in the next two to three years.”