Junior Yellow Greens Boost World Cup Hopes

Nigeria’s Junior Yellow Greens have boosted their chances of returning to Division One of the ICC U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup pathway. They achieved this with a solid seven-wicket win over hosts Rwanda in their third match of the Division 2 qualifiers.

The match took place at the Gahanga Main Oval in Kigali. Nigeria showed a strong all-round performance, bowling out Rwanda for 79 runs in 23.1 overs. They chased down the target, scoring 84 runs for three wickets in just 15.2 overs.

This win keeps the Junior Yellow Greens in the running, with two matches left in the qualification campaign.

Nigeria’s victory came from a great bowling display. The bowlers kept the hosts under pressure throughout their innings. Emmanuel Oladejo led the way with an impressive 3 wickets for 9 runs in five overs, including two maidens. Abdullahi Ismail also took three wickets, giving away 19 runs in seven overs. Keneth Boniface rounded off the performance with 3 wickets for 22 runs in six overs, also including two maidens.

Rwanda found it hard to build partnerships and got bowled out for 79 runs. Nigeria’s bowlers took wickets at regular intervals. Captain Ali Rahmon was happy with the bowling effort but said the team could have done better with their discipline.

"We did a very good job restricting them to 80 runs all out, but I feel we should have done a bit better because we bowled a lot of extras in the first 10 overs. Maybe 60 or 50 runs would have been good," Rahmon said.

While chasing 80 for victory, the Junior Yellow Greens started strong with captain Ali Rahmon and Hossana Omonkhobhio. They put together a crucial 46-run opening partnership. Rahmon scored 24 runs from 38 balls, hitting three boundaries. Omonkhobhio added 18 runs from 19 balls, with three fours and a six. Their partnership ended at 46 in the ninth over, but they had laid a solid foundation for the rest of the chase.

This strong opening allowed Nigeria to control the game and stay ahead of the required run rate. After the opening stand, Peculiar Egemasi kept the momentum going with an unbeaten 19 runs from 20 balls. Boniface finished the game with an unbeaten 7 runs from five balls, including a six. Nigeria wrapped up the chase in just 15.2 overs.

Boniface, who played a key role with the ball, took home the Player of the Match award. He took three wickets for 22 runs before coming back to finish the run chase in style.

Now, after three matches, the Junior Yellow Greens sit third on the table with four points and a net run rate of 1.531. They have two matches left against Mozambique U-19 and Sierra Leone U-19.