Nigeria upset Zimbabwe to lead Group B

To show that their earlier defeat of Tanzania at the ongoing ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup qualifier in Kigali, Rwanda, was no fluke, Nigeria’s women’s team, yesterday, beat bookmakers’ favorite, Zimbabwe, in a hard-fought battle.

Earlier on, the Piety Lucky-led teenagers shoved the Tanzanians aside in their opening match on the heroics of Lillian Ude, who took out five wickets in three overs to emerge the Player of the Match.

The Zimbabwean U-19 women, also opening with an impressive 144 runs victory against Malawi, had shored up their pedigree as the highest-ranked team, and the only test-playing nation vying for the 2025 U-19 World Cup spot.

Zimbabwe won the toss and elected to bat leaving Nigeria to run rings around their batters with impressive bowling numbers.

First, it was Peace Usen, who poached three wickets off four overs, with sixteen runs, setting the tone for a slow run of events for the Zims. Lillian Ude, then stepped up to afflict the South African further with a three-wicket haul (to bring her tournament total to eight). It was Anointed Akhigbe who sealed the first inning with another trifecta delivery that limited the score to 77/10 (in 19.4 overs).

Nigeria stepped up to chase the score with caution given the pedigree of their opponent. What seemed a fairy tale run was chased down by the Zimbabweans, as Nigerian batters hardly came to the party.

Only Omosigho Eguakun and Peculiar Agboya managed a double-digit score (15 and 13 runs respectively), and most batters froze under the experienced bowling prowess of the opponents.

Christina Mutasa, Beloved Biza, and Runyararo Pasipanody took two wickets each. Olinder Chare and Kelis Ndholvu took one each to leave the Nigeria Women, fairy tale inning in jeopardy of