Women’s cricket: Nigeria beats The Gambia

Nigeria has won its second game of the ongoing Women’s T20 Invitational Cricket Tournament in Lagos, beating The Gambia by 10 wickets on Tuesday.

In their match at the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval, The Gambia won the toss against Nigeria and elected to bat first.

The hosts however proved to be a superior side against their rivals, as they needed only 10.1 overs to send all batsmen back to the stands.

Good bowling performances from Lilian Ude, with two wickets and two maidens, helped for a limited score of runs for the Gambian team.

This was complemented as well by Favour Eseigbe with three wickets, seven runs in three overs.

Also, Miracle Imimole’s two wickets, five runs in three overs contributed to The Gambia finishing their innings in 20 runs, all out in 10.1 overs.

The second innings saw Nigeria coming in to bat and needing only the opening duo of Kehinde Abdulquadri and Piety Lucky to score 21 runs in 1.5 overs.

At the end of the game, Fatou Faye, captain of the Gambian team, said ‘in spite of the loss, her team was in optimal shape ahead of their next matches.

She said; “As a team, we are disappointed. But we came here to win and that is the hope that we have. It is disappointing for us that we lost to our Nigerian counterparts, but we will continue to push to ensure we win our other matches.”

The captain of the Nigerian team, Blessing Etim said she was proud of the team and was confident ahead of their next game against Ghana on Friday.

The 15-year-old Ude, with her two wickets and two maidens in two overs, was picked as the player of the match.

NAN/Mercy Chukwudiebere