The Nigerian Male National Cricket Team yesterday maintained their winning streak at the ongoing International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier C with a 264 run victory over Cote D’Ivoire.
The win puts the Yellow-Green atop the event’s points table with an impressive 9.55 net run rate after two matches. The team had defeated St. Helena by 118 in their opening game on Saturday, with Ridwan Abdulkareen taking three wickets in succession (totalling four for the game) to emerge man of the match.
Captain of the Yellow-Green, Sylvester Okpe, admitted the team’s match plan had gone according to plan, noting that the team was taking each match on its merit even as he enthused on cutting down on their errors.
“This is a team event and we are taking every game one at a time. We might have won our matches; we want to go back and see where we need to improve on despite the performance. But I must give kudos to the team for working together and turning up to carry each other whenever there is a slip,” he said.
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Nigeria opted to bat after winning the toss against Cote D’Ivoire with the hope of putting a respectable total on the board and complimenting the day with their fiery bowling prowess.
The opening duo of Selim Salau and Sulaimon Runsewe set off a racy inning for the team. A Remarkable display of power hitting by Selim Salau, smashing 112 off 53, including 13 fours and 2 sixes laid the foundation for Nigeria’s massive total of 271/4 in 20 overs against the Ivorian side who were having their maiden international cricket outing.
Contributing 23 extras to the total, Cote d’Ivoire’s undisciplined approach with the ball on the day also gifted a half-century to Runsewe Sulaimon 50 off 29 and Isaac Okpe 65 off 23.
In the chase, newcomers Cote d’Ivoire, rarely found form as Nigeria’s clinical bowling needed only 7.3 overs to send all batters back to the pavilion with just 7 runs on board. This result will go down in the books for Nigeria having dislodged a team in 7 runs.
President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation and the Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, Uyi Akpata, commended the International Cricket Council for trusting the Nigeria Cricket Federation to deliver a World Class event.
“This should make all of us proud as Nigerians, the global spotlight this event has given the country, the commendation for the quality of cricket manpower and facility that the country is showcasing with this event. The icing on this: is that the national team is equally doing well and delivering incredible performance at the event,” he said.
Meanwhile, the event takes a break today as play resumes tomorrow (November 26th) with St. Helena taking on Sierra Leone on Oval 1 at 9:30 am, while the match between Nigeria and Eswatini will be on by 1:50 pm at Oval, simultaneously at 1: 50pm, Cote D’Ivoire will be taking on Botswana for a redemptive encounter.
The best two teams at the end of the event on Thursday (November 28th) would proceed to the next round where final Qualifiers for the 2025 T20 World Cup would be determined.
