The Nigeria Women’s senior team A.K.A Female Yellow Greens confirmed their position at 5th overall in the just concluded tournament when they beat Brazil for the second time in less than 1 week.
The tournament began with 3 straight victories for Nigeria with Brazil, Germany and Botswana all falling to the sword in the first 3 encounters. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania once again, established their dominance in Africa Women’s Cricket as Nigeria suffered defeats to leave the tournament on the balance.
The quest for the last semi-final spot fell on the laps of Nigeria and Rwanda, a recent fierce rivalry in Women’s cricket, at least on the pitch to say the least especially when you put the NCF Women’s invitational tournament into perspective where Nigeria won the battle but Rwanda won the war in April 2022, Lagos Nigeria.
Fresh on the minds of both teams, Nigeria won the toss and elected to field first which turned out to be a great decision as Rwanda were restricted to just 91 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. The bowlers did their job; this became the lowest total by Rwanda against Nigeria in any contest. Unfortunately, the bating side could not replicate the efforts of the bowlers as they could only muster 70 runs in the run chase. Conveniently, we can say there was nothing special from the Rwanda bowlers, but the result highlights the deficiency in the Nigeria team which would require a drastic but professional remedy going forward.
Very soothing news though from the overall tournament is the appearance of our own SALOME SUNDAY on the list of top 25 Female runs scorer’s in ODI’s with an impressive 25 innings scoring 486 runs. This has also earned her a place in teams drawn from the best players in the Kwibuka tournament for the elite championship.
The Female Yellow Greens have again shown consistent improvement over the last few years and with the new entries into the team signaling a bright future for Women’s Cricket in Nigeria. Focus will now move to the Under-19 girls’ team which has a lot of exciting talents to look forward to.
While we continue to take the positives from the tournament, a little succor and a new brand of international cricket knitted with fun and ultimately fostering a more intriguing bilateral relationship was birthed. Ladies and gentlemen please let me use this opportunity to mention Nigeria’s Cricket TBS 4:O’clock group over 50’s tour of Uganda which features the President of the Federation Mr Uyi Akpata, former Nigeria Internationals and more. This is the much that would be said for now, details later….