Nigeria’s women cricket team could not replicate the victory at the group phase over Rwanda at the inaugural Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) Women’s T20 Invitational as the latter triumphed at the closing game of the event.
After winning the toss, Rwanda Women’s team chose to bat and left 129 runs on the board for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.
In the second innings, the Nigerian team struggled to put runs on the board as their wicket fell in succession to lose with 53 runs.
NCF President, Mr Uyi Akpata said the matches between both teams were top clashes in which the players gave a good account of themselves.
‘Nigeria beat Rwanda in the group match and lost in the finals. For us, that is no issue, it shows a lot of improvement from our young team especially the rate at which the three 15 -year-olds performed for the country.
‘Nigeria’s opening batter Lucky Piety, Lilian Ude (who won two Player-of-the-Match award in Nigeria’s five matches) and Peculiar Agboya, have justified their inclusion in the team’, Akpata added.
He praised the sponsors – Access Bank, Eko Electricity Distribution, PET Foundation and Energy Mining Recourses (EMR) – for believing in the youth and cricket by throwing their weight behind the Federation.
The President of the Rwanda Cricket Association, Stephen Musaale said the event was a great show of the development in African women’s cricket, adding that beyond Rwanda winning it, it was nice seeing that a lot of development is going on with other teams.
The NCF pledged that the event would now be held yearly and top female cricket teams would be invited to the country.
