It was a monumental first for Nigeria as the country’s under 19 Cricket Team, the “Junior Yellow Green”, qualified for their first ever Cricket World Cupry.
Emotions were high at the arena when Team Nigeria, having put up quite the impressive display, qualified as the first team in West Africa to book a spot at the ICC U-19 World Cup in South Africa.
The team will now prepare to make their global debut when the world championship kicks off in January 2020.
Recap
Nigeria defeated Sierra Leone by two wickets to advance to the world cup.
Nigeria Vs Sierra Leone
The Junior Yellow Green started off the encounter on the front foot, while holding Sierra Leone’s feet to the fire.
Although the Nigerian team was quick-witted, they were met with great difficult from Kamara Henry, who was a consistent thorn in the side of Nigeria’s bowlers.
Kamaru raced to quick 50 runs off 60 balls, supported by T. Sancho with 24 runs off 50 balls and John Bangura’s 21 off 31 balls, taking Sierra Leone’s game total to 138 runs all out in 37. 2 overs.
Mohamed Taiwo, Abdulrahman Jimoh, Peter Aho and Abolarin Rasheed all had two wickets apiece.
The second inning saw Sierra Leone unleash a beautifully planned bowling technic that cramped Nigeria’s runs to 20 for the loss of one wicket before lunch.
At the restart, team Nigeria were put in a very difficult position when Sierra Leone struck with two more wickets.
Tension quickly built up as Nigeria made another 47 runs, before Sierra Leone leveled things up with a few more wickets.
Technically, Sierra Leone had the upper hand, and their win seemed imminent.
It was a race against time for team Nigeria at this point and the bowlers knew this.
Emmanuel Boniface struck 11 runs off nine balls, assisted by Abdulrahman Jimoh’s 12 runs off 12 balls.
Nigeria was at 122 runs when the crucial cricket fell and the team immediately went into overdrive, and successfully recorded a total of 139 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in 44.2 overs.
Speaking after the big win for Nigeria, the President of Nigeria Cricket Federation, Adams Yahaya Ukwenya, said he was proud of the team for attaining a new feat for Nigeria in cricket.
“This is history that has just been made, and Nigeria’s Cricket has attained a new height that has never been reached, and we are very happy for this achievement.”
Featured image source: Voice of Nigeria