Cricket World Cup: Nigeria battles South Africa for group top spot

On the back of Monday’s historic win over New Zealand, Nigeria’s Junior Female Yellow Greens will hope to end the group stage of the 2025 ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in style, when they come up against South Africa in their last group game on Wednesday.

Although the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia has revealed that they are rarely underdogs in cricket, it is still a fight of the unequal as Nigeria and South Africa clash in the final Group C game at the Borneo Cricket Ground, Sarawak.

Both teams, sitting top two in Group C, will go into the contest by 7:30 am Nigerian time on Wednesday to determine the winner of
the group.

The Junior Yellow Greens announced their presence at the tournament with a huge upset, enduring a nerve-wracking fight to secure a
two-run win over New Zealand in a 13-over match after her first game against Samoa was washed out.

South Africa comes from the back of an emphatic victory over Samoa and New Zealand in her first two games.

This will be the first time both nations will meet in a cricket game in the women’s category on the world stage.

Although, both sides met at the 13th African Games in Ghana in March 2024, with South Africa presenting her `emerging’ Squad in the tournament.

Notably, both teams have a good number of players who took part in the Games. Of South Africa’s 15-player squad at the 2025 World Cup, seven of those had been listed at the previous edition in 2023, which they hosted and reached the Super 6 stage.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s team in Malaysia 2025 has got eight of the 15 players, also participating in Ghana. This goes to say both sides are not ignorant of each other’s antics.

Leg spinner Seshnie Naidu’s 4/13 and all-rounder Kayla Reyneke’s 3/12 rattled Nigeria’s batting