Nigeria finishes fifth as Tanzania wins Kwibuka Cricket Championship

Nigeria’s women national cricket team, at the weekend, rounded off its Eight Kwibuka T20i campaign by beating Brazil to claim the fifth place at the Gahanga Cricket Oval in Kigali, Rwanda.

The 30-run win returned the team to winning ways after a string of losses mid-tournament to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

Coach of the team, Leke Oyede, said: “The team struggled at some point, but honestly, those were teams that ranked higher and played better. But we have taken the learnings along the way and you will see that in the way the team played her last match.”

Nigeria opened the tournament with three successive wins against Brazil, Germany and Botswana before the slump, one which the coach has attributed to stronger opposition.

“We lost to all teams that were naturally higher than us in ranking, but I believe we could have salvaged one or two wins from the four loses. But the team is growing and those games presented deep learning curve for the players individually and together as a team,” he added

On Saturday, Tanzanian emerged overall winners of the tournament by posting a 44-run win over defending champion, Kenya. The win leaves the Kenyan team short of their fifth Kwibuka title.

Tanzania became the Kwibuka Women’s T20 tournament champions for the third time and the second time since 2019. They could not participate in the 2021 edition after majority of the national team’s players and the coaching staff tested positive for COVID-19.

An excited Tanzania Head Coach, Kelvin Njilinji, said: “We could not attend the 2021 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic but we’re excited to be back to the tournament as champions,

“We had enough time to prepare for this tournament and I am happy that my players were the difference, not only