Cricket Cranes boss Laurance Mahatlane chose to take the positives from his side’s 10-run loss to Qatar in their opening game of a four 50 Over bilateral series on Thursday.

Mahatlane’s charges- on an eight-day visit to the Arab nation- took to the field for an international event for the first time this year, and it was them that ended the day as the second best at the Doha University of Science and Technology ground.

Uganda had some really good figures with Alpesh Ramjani bossing both the attack (4/38) and the strike (65), and Riazat Ali Shah doing the same with the bat (84), but the East Africans came short of the goal.

Mahatlane admitted their hosts were brilliant with the ball, but insisted he was pleased with how his boys handled the game.

“Credit has to be given to the Qataris. They really bowled well especially at the backend,” Mahatlane said of their opponent’s bowling.

“We had some soft moments, but I’m very happy with the way the boys stood up and showed character. We haven’t played one day cricket in quite a while with our focus mainly being T20 so it was good to see the boys show alot of character.

“After Qatar got off to a flyer, the boys showed a lot of character to pull it back and limit their scoring to 250. I’m genuinely happy with the way we are, and hoping to bounce back hard tomorrow.”

The cricket cranes will look to brush off that defeat, and level the series In Saturday when the two sides face off in the second game of the series.

As they await the start of the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup Qualifiers set to happen in Namibia in November, this series is meant to prepare the team for that Qualifier.