ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Sub-Regional Qualifier C: Nigeria wins again, beats Cote d’Ivoire by 264 runs

Nigeria continued its fine start to the ongoing ICC T20 Cricket World Cup sub-regional qualifier yesterday with a 264-run defeat of Cote d’Ivoire in Abuja.

The Yellow-Green had earlier on Saturday defeated St. Helena by 118 runs, with Ridwan Abdulkareen taking three wickets in succession (totalling four in the game) to emerge man of the match.

The win yesterday at the cricket oval of the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, put the country on top of the table with a 9.55 net run rate after two matches.

Yesterday, Nigeria opted to bat after winning the toss against Cote d’Ivoire with the hope of putting a respectable total on the board and complimenting the day with their fiery bowling prowess.

The opening duo of Selim Salau and Sulaimon Runsewe set off a racy inning for the team. A remarkable display of power hitting by Selim Salau, smashing 112 off 53, including 13 fours and 2 sixes, laid the foundation for Nigeria’s massive total of 271/4 in 20 overs against the Ivorian side, who were having their maiden international cricket outing.

Contributing 23 extras to the total, Cote d’Ivoire’s undisciplined approach with the ball on the day also gifted a half-century to Runsewe Sulaimon 50 off 29 and Isaac Okpe 65 off 23.

In the chase, Cote’d’Ivoire rarely found form as Nigeria’s clinical bowling needed only 7.3 overs to send all batters back to the pavilion with just seven runs on board. This result will go down in the books for Nigeria having dislodged a team in seven runs.

Speaking after the match, Yellow Greens Captain Sylvester Okpe said that the team’s match plan went according to plan, noting that the team took each match on its merit and would go and analyse their performance despite the win to cut down on their errors.

“This is a