Nigeria Defeat Rwanda, Botswana, Kenya, Top Kwibuka Women Cricket Table

Nigeria’s growing influence in African women cricket has been highlighted in Kigali, Rwanda, venue of the ongoing Kwibuka T20 Women Cricket Tournament featuring some of the top nations in the continent’s game.

The Nigerian national team, also known as the Women Yellow Greens, currently tops the leaderboard of the ongoing Kwibuka T20 Women Cricket Tournament by beating Rwanda, Botswana and Kenya in their first three matches at the tournament.

The coach, Leke Oyede tutored side brushed aside their host in their opening encounter on Saturday with a six-wicket victory at the Gahanga Cricket Stadium in Kigali.

The host had left an 87-run inning for the Nigerian women to chase and got overwhelmed by the visitors as they wrapped up the game in 18.2 over with a spectacular show that earned Salome Sunday, the player of the match award.

“I think the opening victory against the host, Rwanda, pumped up the girls’ confidence. Naturally, Nigeria and Rwanda’s encounters at this level have evolved into a friendly rivalry and, since we beat them to win the last tournament in April, in Lagos, I know we will need to work harder anytime we meet them again,” Oyede said after the opening victory on Saturday.

Yesterday morning, the team beat Botswana by six wickets (Botswana 97/6, Nigeria 98/4), before humbling three-time winner of the title, Kenya, later in the afternoon by three wickets.

Kenya, batting first, had set a target of 95/4 (20 overs) that put the team up for a hard-fought 98/7 (16.4 overs) to secure the needed three-wicket victory, with 16-year-old Lucky Piety picking the player of the match for both games.

“These wins put us on top of the leaderboard and unbeaten, ahead of our Monday morning encounter with Uganda, one of the top teams here, who are also unbeaten after two wins against Botswana and host Rwanda as well,” Oyede said.

The ongoing Ninth Kwibuka Women’s T20 Tournament is featuring Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, and Rwanda with Gahanga and Kicukiro Cricket Ovals in Kigali as host.

(Guardian)