Whakatāne Mayor Tony Bonne has welcomed the visiting Ugandan cricket team to the district in an informal ceremony at the Civic Centre. The team are staying in Whakatāne as they prepare for the World Cup qualifying rounds that will be played in New Zealand in the lead up to the main event to be held here and in Australia next year.

The mayor welcomed the team to Whakatāne and said it was a pleasure to be able to host the first international cricket team to play in the town. Mr Bonne also noted that the Whakatāne District Council had been working with the Whakatāne United Cricket Club to raise the standard of the cricket pitches at Rex Morpeth Park, with the improvements achieved playing a major role in the area’s selection to host the team. He wished the visitors well for both the match they would play against an invitation side in Whakatāne (played on 7 January) and the forthcoming World Cup qualifying tournament.

The Ugandan team manager, Andrew Othieno, thanked the mayor and the people of the Whakatāne District for their warm welcome and emphasised the importance of the upcoming qualifying matches to his team. “This will decide the destiny of Ugandan cricket for the next ten years,” he said, “so it has been vital that we could acclimatise before our World Cup qualification matches, and we are grateful for being so spoilt here.”

Mr Othieno said their stay on a local marae had been particularly enjoyable, as it had been a great team building experience, and team members were already looking forward to being back in New Zealand for the 2015 matches.