Cricket: Nigeria Finishes 5th At Kwibuka Women’s Tournament In Rwanda
Nigeria’s national women’s cricket team, the Female Yellow Greens, beat Brazil by 30 runs to finish fifth at the Kwibuka T20 Women’s Tournament in Kigali, Rwanda.
At the beginning of the tournament, Nigeria were cruising as they were at the top of the log. However, with only three wins in seven matches the team dropped down the table as they had to face Brazil again to jostle for the fifth spot.
Nigeria had earlier beaten Brazil in their first game at the tournament by eight wickets and were determined to repeat the achievement. Nigeria won the toss and opted to bat. Efforts by Salome Sunday-32 runs in 29 balls and team captain Blessing Etim’s 27 runs in 30 balls, helped Nigeria to secure victory against the South Americans.
Nigeria scored 113 runs for the loss of four in 20 overs. The second innings saw Brazil resume batting, scoring 83 for seven in 20 overs. Luracadoso Martin Villas Boaz produced the best batting performance for the Brazilian side with 31 runs in 43 balls.
They ended up scoring 83 runs for the loss of seven in 20 overs for Nigeria to win by 30 runs.
Captain of the Female Yellow Greens, Blessing Etim, lauded her teammates efforts at the tournament, adding that the team would go back home to the drawing board.
“I appreciate the players, we all worked together to achieve this. We will go home and work on our errors and come back stronger,” Etim said.
“I also appreciate Uyi Akpata, the president of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), for his support. On behalf of the team, we say ‘thank you.”
The tournament, which has eight teams participating, started on June 9th and ended on Saturday, June 18th.
On Saturday, Tanzania beat Kenya by 44 runs to lift the 2022 Kwibuka T20 trophy, while hosts Rwanda were defeated by Uganda, who finished the third in the tournament.
Chidi Nwoke/NAN.
