Nigeria are in pole position to advance into the next round of the women’s cricket event at the ongoing 2023 African Games in Ghana, after beating Namibia by 55 runs in their second game on Friday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Off the back of a draw against Tanzania due to bad weather on Thursday, the 29th-ranked Female Yellow Greens returned to the Achimota Cricket Oval on Friday and faced a daunting task against the Namibians currently ranked 17th in the world.
But that didn’t matter in the course of the game as captain Blessing Etim won the toss and elected to bat first.
Opening batters Favour Eseigbe and Esther Sandy had a shaky start but Nigeria’s innings was steadied with the introduction of Sunday Salome who produced 40 runs including five boundaries off 36 balls.
By the time she was bowled out in the 16th over, Leke Oyede’s ladies had done enough with the likes of Piety Lucky, Sarah Etim and captain Etim seeing the innings off for a massive 111 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs.
Before Namibia’s target in the second innings could get off perfectly, Usen Peace who was playing her second T20i game for Nigeria led the bowling charge by getting three wickets while Peculiar Agboya and Lillian Udeh also had two each.
The job was done in the 18th over, leaving Namibia with just 56 runs all out.
Ahead of Nigeria’s last group game against South Africa on Sunday, the Female Yellow Greens lead the group with three points from two matches.
South Africa who recovered from their opening day loss against Namibia to beat Tanzania on Friday are second with two points.
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