Kampala — There seems to be a sea of calmness within the cricket fraternity.

There is a strong belief that the previously unruly storm and demons of the past regime have been exorcised. Of course there are few short-comings here and there but the amazing thing is that there is general goodwill amongst all the stakeholders.

And above all, there is a new man in town. Welcome to Mohammed Ebrahim Barney's world. Everything in Ugandan cricket starts and stops with the gigantic figure that is the 47-year-old South African. It is very easy to recognise Barney anytime you visit the home of cricket - Lugogo. His name somehow creeps into every chat among the cricketers whether young or old and the fans.

Barney has everything under his wraps and is no doubt a good coach, instructor, friend, advisor and fatherly figure to many.

His fondness of the local cricketers is amazing. "Uganda reminds me of the West Indies squad. Flair ingrained, full of ambition and very passionate about the game," Barney said of the Ugandan team, which he has promised to take to the next level. In his 16 years as a coach, the South African has seen it all.

Be it back-stabbing, sporting politics and controversies. And being a jack-of-all trades, odds dictate Barney is the man to lead Uganda to its maiden World Cup appearance. "These guys are very talented, full of life and bubbling with a lot of enthusiasm. I only have to work on the tactical bit, application and mental preparation of the players. I am focused on making Uganda the best team in the continent after South Africa," preached Barney in his earlier coaching days in Uganda.

The South African native holds a Level 3 coaching certificate and his rich curriculum vitae includes coaching spells at Transvaal Province, South Africa 'A' and the South African National Academy. Barney's tactical nous will surely be the difference when Uganda takes on the world in Buenos Airies, Argentina in January 2009.

Anything is possible

If Uganda qualifies amongst the top two in Argentina, a berth to the 2011 Cricket World Cup (CWC) penultimate qualifying showdown in either South Africa or Bangladesh (originally the tourney had been set for Dubai in April 2009) will have been attained and anything will be possible from there.

Uganda Cricket Association (UCA) has held the bull by its horns and is not expecting lady luck to show up anytime soon. "We don't want things to happen by mistake. We have worked in the nets and are going to work harder in our warm-up tours. We will even play harder in Argentina. But a little luck will do us good," quipped national skipper Davis Arinaitwe.

And the voyage to the World Cup starts today when the team sets foot in South Africa for a one-month warm up tour at Benoni and the High Performance Centre (HPC) in Pretoria. Assistant team manager Justine Ligyalingi leads the contingent of 12 players with another six expected to join the team in a fortnight's time.

Coach Barney is already in South Africa where he has been organising the tour matches for the team and Ligyalingi says it will be a worthy tour. "We are going to play several big sides including Titans and Western Province. We might also play Bangladesh and a select South African side. Such games will gives us invaluable experience that we need ahead of Argentina qualifier," said Ligyalingi. With such preparations, UCA will only have their players to blame if qualification eludes Uganda.