T20i Tournament: Nigeria edges Rwanda to return to winning ways

Nigeria Female Yellow Greens proved again they are best at scaling the hurdle set by their cricket opponents as they defeated arch-rival Rwanda by four wickets at the ongoing T20i tournament.

Nigeria scored 99/5 to secure a second win of the tournament against Rwanda at the T20i tournament.

Captain Blessing Etim won the toss and chose to field, leaving Marie Diane’s Rwandan team to bat first.

A slight miss-fielding in the first over gave Nigeria a shaky start. However, the girls picked up form almost immediately when teenage star, Shola Adekunle sparked a deadly bowling squad against Rwanda.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Shola took 4 wickets with precision, and Peculiar Agboya and Favour Eseigbe grabbed three and two wickets, respectively. The shock kept Rwanda’s total runs at 95 and lost 9 wickets in 20 overs (95/9).

The second-inning chase for Nigeria started on a good note when Assistant Captain Favour Eseigbe and Esther Sandy soaked up the pressure poured out in revenge by Rwanda. Favour and Esther’s partnership gave Nigeria 58 runs. A safe haven was created before Esther’s wicket fell.

However, Rwanda saw an opportunity to tighten the screw, and soon pressure shifted to Nigeria with 4 successive falls of wickets.

Nigeria’s nerve was put to the test when the game got to its twilight with a tie. One run was needed to win the 19th over. It was on Salome Sunday’s shoulder to deliver, and she finished in style with four runs.

And youngster Shola Adekunle walked away with a N150,000 prize for the Player of the Match award.