Tikolo leaves Uganda post

Stephen Tikolo has chosen not to renew his contract as Head Coach of the Ugandan men’s team today after three and a half years in the job.

In a press release today, the Uganda Cricket Association expressed their desire for Tikolo to stay on, though respected the decision of the 48-year-old.

“Unfortunately, he has made a personal decision not to extend his stay with us despite our interest to continue with the relationship. He leaves the National Cricket team in a good place with the team currently on top of the Cricket World Cup Challenge League B.

“We would like to thank Stephen for his dedication and professionalism and to wish him the very best in his future endeavours.”

Regarded as Kenya’s greatest cricketer, Tikolo has made a successful transition to coaching, filling multiple roles in his home country and Uganda, even working as the Cranes’ batting coach during the latter stages of his international playing career as far back as 2012.

Uganda enjoyed a glory-rich 2019 under Tikolo’s leadership, unbeaten in the first Challenge League Group B leg in Oman. Blooding a new crop of players in his tenure, Tikolo also masterminded the Cricket Cranes’ triumphant World Cricket League Division 4 campaign in Malaysia, back in 2018.

Former Cranes Coach Davis Turinawe will take over on an interim basis, with the intention of a permanent coach being appointed by the end of February.

Uganda is to host the next leg of Group B of the Challenge League in August, with another T20 World Cup Qualifying campaign set to fill the calendar in the first half of 2020.

Keep up with news and events from cricket’s new world on Facebook and Twitter pages.

Looking for audio content on the emerging game? Add the Emerging Cricket Podcast to your favourites on Apple, Spotify and Podbean.