Nigeria took another step towards picking Africa’s second ticket to the 2025 ICC U-19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia by upsetting bookmakers’ favourites Zimbabwe in a hard-fought one-wicket victory on Monday to book an early semi-final spot, The PUNCH reports.
Nigeria and Zimbabwe faced off on the back of their respective wins in the first round of matches, and the game proved nervy for the Junior Yellow Greens.
As it happened against Tanzania, Nigeria lost the toss and Zimbabwe elected to bat first, leaving the Junior Yellow Greens to run rings around their batters with impressive bowling numbers.
First, it was Peace Usen who poached three wickets in four overs with 16 runs, setting the tone for a slow run of events for the Zims.
Player of the Match against Tanzania, Lillian Ude then stepped up to afflict the Zimbabweans further with a three-wicket haul to bring her tournament total to eight. It was Anointed Akhigbe who sealed the first innings with another delivery that limited Zimbabwe’s score to 77 runs for the loss of 10 wickets in 19.4 overs.
Nigeria stepped up to chase the score with caution, given the pedigree of their opponents, and what seemed a fairytale run was chased down by the Zimbabweans, as Nigerian batters hardly came to the party.
Omosigho Eguakun and Peculiar Agboya managed double-digit scores (15 and 13 runs, respectively), and most batters froze under the experienced bowling prowess of Christina Mutasa, Beloved Biza, and Runyararo Pasipanody, who took two wickets each. Olinder Chare and Kelis Ndholvu took one each to leave Nigeria in jeopardy of defeat with one run to go on the last ball.
It was Peace Usen’s solo run on the last ball that sealed the victory for Nigeria at 78 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs.
After two wins, Nigeria are top of Group B with four points, while Zimbabwe and Tanzania, who had beaten Malawi earlier in the day, placed second and third with one win apiece.
Malawi, Nigeria’s opponent on Wednesday, are bottom of the table.
In Group A, Uganda and Rwanda have won their first two matches to occupy the top two spots, with Uganda leading on net run rate. Namibia and Kenya are third and fourth after losing their opening two matches.