Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players each. One team bats, trying to score runs, while the other team bowls and fields, trying to get the batters out. Matches can be very short (a few hours) or very long (a few days), depending on the format.
Uganda's cricket story started over 100 years ago, brought to East Africa by people who had played the game in India and Britain. Today, Uganda has its own active cricket league, schools' tournaments, and a women's national team called the Victoria Pearls. Both teams play other African nations and travel for international tournaments.
Qualifying for the T20 World Cup in 2024 was the biggest moment in Ugandan cricket history. The team played opening matches in the West Indies, and many Ugandan families gathered around radios and TVs to follow the games. Children who saw the matches were inspired to try cricket themselves.
Cricket in Uganda is played on a green ground with a stripe of harder ground in the middle - the 'pitch'. The bowler runs in and bowls the ball, the batter tries to hit it, and the other players try to catch it. If it sounds confusing, don't worry - even Ugandan grown-ups admit it takes a few games to follow.