Brian Masaba thinks he has the most effective boss on the earth.
The Uganda captain has led his nation to their first World Cup however he additionally works part-time as a procurement supervisor, shopping for pens, paper and “regardless of the firm wants”.
“Once I wanted to ask my boss for break day he was more than pleased to present me it,” Masaba tells BBC Sport.
“He is a large, enormous cricket fan.
“He will likely be on the primary airplane to the Caribbean himself.”
Discovering a cricket-mad boss will not be the best process in a rustic in central Africa the place soccer guidelines.
In Uganda there are simply 20 golf equipment for a inhabitants of 47 million individuals. To place that into perspective, Eire has six instances that quantity. Yorkshire has 800.
Whereas Rashid Khan – who will function for Uganda’s first opponents Afghanistan on Tuesday – ready amid the flashing lights and deafening noise of the Indian Premier League, Masaba’s build-up included days within the workplace with an early morning internet and a late-evening fielding session.
“We discover a strategy to make it work,” says Masaba, a Actual Madrid fan and the son of a footballer.
“I’ve to search out the time to work the weekends.”
The Cricket Cranes certified for this World Cup with a surprising victory over Zimbabwe within the African qualifiers final yr – their first victory over a Take a look at-playing nation.
Three years earlier, they have been ranked under Austria and Guernsey, at which stage their then-coach Lawrence Mahatlane sat the squad down and mapped out their path to the Caribbean and United States.
“The blokes checked out him like he was loopy,” says Masaba, who has by no means even been to a World Cup match as a spectator.
“However once we thought of it, we simply needed to beat one of many two higher-ranked sides within the event and never lose to the others.
“It was a course of to start out believing.”
Uganda performed extra T20s and received extra matches than another worldwide facet in 2023 [Getty Images]
That course of has led Uganda to cricket’s international stage, the place they may compete in a bunch with co-hosts West Indies, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Papua New Guinea.
They don’t seem to be the lowest-ranked facet on this expanded 20-team World Cup – they’re twenty second on the earth standings, a spot above Canada – however they’re the one crew showing at their first main event.
Their squad options 43-year-old Frank Nsubuga, an all-rounder who made his debut in 1997 – 5 years earlier than James Anderson made his worldwide bow.
“Frank loves cricket,” Masaba says. “It’s his life and why he has given 25 years to the sport.
“I attribute one of many causes for qualification to eager to do it for him.”
Opener Simon Ssesazi, whose hero is Chris Gayle and who refers to himself on social media as ‘The Tiger’, is Uganda’s main T20 run-scorer aged 27.
Additionally they have two younger quicks, 22-year-old Cosmas Kyewuta and Juma Miyaji, 21, able to bowling in extra of 80mph, whereas no-one on the earth took extra T20 worldwide wickets in 2023 than their spinner Alpesh Ramjani.
Ramjani, 29, is one in all a bunch of Asia-born cricketers who moved to Uganda for work however have since certified through the Worldwide Cricket Council’s residency guidelines.
One other, all-rounder Dinesh Nakrani, made his T20 debut for his state in a match that additionally featured Cheteshwar Pujara. Later that yr, he bowled Hardik Pandya in an Below-23s recreation.
“Uganda is a really open nation so these guys don’t have any drawback bonding with the crew,” Masaba says.
“One of many keys to our success is we have now had a core group that has performed collectively for a very long time.”
In 32-year-old Masaba, who made his debut in 2011, they’ve a captain who speaks like a statesman as he assesses the “loopy” few months since qualification, and what would possibly occur subsequent.
“We wish to convey somewhat little bit of our tradition to the world stage,” he says.
“We intend to hold with us a little bit of our Ugandan-ness, which is that we’re very pleased individuals, very welcoming, jolly and really energetic.
“That’s how we wish to play our cricket.”
Masaba speaks of Uganda’s “distinctive alternative” to develop the sport however is eager to make a well-known plea to the ICC.
“We will solely be pretty much as good because the groups we play in opposition to,” he says.
“That recreation in opposition to Zimbabwe, the closest we get to play a Take a look at nation, was the primary time we have now performed them in 10 years.
“That paints an image of how arduous it’s for a nation like Uganda to get high quality opposition.”
Masaba’s squad – who have been lately awarded central contracts, a rarity for any sport within the nation – have needed to cram in as a lot cricket as doable in latest months, round their part-time jobs.
They’ve travelled to India to play membership and state sides and made two journeys to Sri Lanka to face developmental XIs. They’ve been taking extra catches, spending extra time within the nets and lifting extra weights within the fitness center.
“We now have needed to regulate as gamers,” Masaba says. “It has given us a style of what an expert cricketer’s life needs to be like.
“I’m hoping a few guys can put in performances and get picked up by the franchise leagues world wide.
“That will be enormous for Ugandan cricket – it may encourage the subsequent technology.”
Masaba is not the one one with a formidable boss.
Fourteen Uganda cricketers within the Caribbean have one too.
