Pepsi ICC-Africa T20 Women Tourney: Nigeria Ranked 5th

Nigeria’s women cricket team finished fifth at the recently concluded Pepsi ICC-Africa T20 Championship.

The competition was held from 16-20 December in Kampala, Uganda.

P.M.Sports gathered that the Nigerian ladies played their first match against Kenya on 16 December where they took on Kenya at the Lugogo cricket oval.

They won the toss and elected to bat first. Kenya won by 10 wickets. Team Nigeria scored a paltry 35 runs for 9 in the allotted 20 0vers. Kenya surpassed the target in 5 overs, with Margaret Banja scoring 17 runs not out supported by Emily Ruto with 13 runs not out.

On Saturday, 17 December, Team Nigeria, at the Kyambogo oval, won their first international match. They defeated their counterparts from Sierra Leone by 6 wickets in a 10- over revised innings due to late start caused by rainfall in the morning.

Sierra Leone won the toss and decided to bat first, scoring 55 runs for 5 wickets in 10 overs. Nigeria surpassed the target in 9.1 overs. Only Ann Marie Kamara of Sierra Leone scored double figures, 16. Hannah Ayoka of Nigeria took 2 wickets for 10 in 2 overs.

On Sunday, 18 December, Nigeria faced Namibia at the Kyambogo oval. Namibia won the toss and decided to bat. Namibia won by 79 runs. Namibia put up a total of 127 runs for 8 in 20 overs. Nigeria were bowled all out for 48 runs. Anneri Van Schoor scored 25 runs off 27 balls before she was bowled by Seun Awonusi, while Sune Wittmann knocked an impressive 27 off 18 balls before she was run out by Victoria Eyo.

On Monday, 19 December, Tanzania secured an emphatic 9 wickets victory over Team Nigeria who had won the toss and decided to bat first. They managed to put up a total of 58 runs which was not enough to defeat the Tanzanians. The target was surpassed by 1 run in 6.5 overs .Ibrahim Shakim Mwanaidi scored 19 off 22 balls while Monica Pascal Iddi scored 17 runs off 13 balls.

At the end of the tournament, Nigeria was ranked 5th in Women’s T20 in Africa. Uganda was ranked 1st, Tanzania 2nd, Kenya 3rd, Namibia 4th and Sierra Leone 6th.