A NINE-WICKET loss to Italy via the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method has witnessed Tanzania open its campaign in this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League B on the wrong foot in the tie played in Uganda two days back.

In the game held at Entebbe Cricket Oval, Tanzania went in to bat first, ending with 173/10 in 42.3 overs of the encounter that was reduced to 45 overs because of rain.

Promising batsman Mohamed Omary was one of the cricketers who starred with the bat for the batting side having scored 36 runs.

He had Tanzania reaching 73/5 once the cricketer left the crease upon the completion of 19 overs.

The youthful cricketer had laid his hands on the bat shortly after skipper Abhik Patwa had a day to forget having been dismissed with three runs to his name.

Middle-order batsman Maker Mukesh had the best batting performance for Tanzania, in which he secured 50 runs.

Ally Mpeka - slotted in as a low-order batsman- was the team's other cricketer with significant contribution in the innings, having scored 27 runs.

Ivan Ismail, who opened the innings with Patwa, was the other cricketer with a notable contribution as the opener recorded 15 runs.

Damith Kosala was the bowler who played a pivotal role in Italy's successful efforts to keep Tanzania's batting unit in check, posting 4-35.

Italy, needing to mount a successful chase of a revised target of 169 runs from the allotted 28 overs, went on to come out victorious for the loss of one wicket.

Opening batsman Emilio Nico, posting 96 runs not out, formed a solid second-wicket stand with skipper Marcus Campopiano, securing 41 runs not out, to propel their team to victory.

In the second fixture, Tanzania would come up against pre-tournament favourite and host Uganda at Lugogo Oval today.

Tanzania would then take on Hong Kong at the Entebbe Oval on November 12.

Tanzania's senior national cricket team, coached by Pushpa Kumar, is made up of skipper Abhik Patwa, Ally Mpeka, Amal Rajeevan, Harsheed Chohan, Asuri Rajendra, Kassim Nassor, and Ivan Selemani.

Khalid Amiri, Maker Mukesh, Mohamed Omary, Mohamed Yunus, Sanjay Thakor, Laksh Bakrania, and Akhil Anil are the other cricketers constituting the squad.

The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League B is viewed as the first stage of the road to the 2027 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup.

The tournament is the second edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup Challenge League and a cricket tournament which forms part of the 2027 Cricket World Cup qualification process.

Tanzania's senior national cricket team is featuring in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Challenge League B whilst boasting a successful run in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier A, held in Dar es Salaam in September.