Nigeria aims for win against Rwanda in cricket qualifiers

Nigeria’s Junior Yellow Greens want to build on their five-wicket win over Ghana. They will play against the hosts, Rwanda, on Wednesday in the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Division 2 Qualifier.

The Junior Yellow Greens got their qualification hopes back on track with a strong win over Ghana at Gahanga Oval on Monday. But captain Ali Rahmon says the team needs to do better with their batting against Rwanda. They lost too many wickets while chasing.

Nigeria bowled out Ghana for 93 runs in 39.5 overs. They then chased down 96 runs for the loss of five wickets in just 22.2 overs to win the match.

Keneth Boniface was the star of the match. He took 4 wickets for 33 runs in eight overs and scored an unbeaten 30 runs off 32 balls, hitting four fours and one six. He was named Player of the Match for his great all-round performance.

Rahmon praised the team’s bowling but admitted they need to improve their batting before facing Rwanda.

“Firstly, when we lost the toss, it actually went our way because we were actually looking to bat and bowl first, get some early wickets and mount pressure. But we didn’t really get the early wicket. We got more dot balls though and mounted pressure, and we were able to bowl them out,” he said.

“But I feel as a batting unit, we are not there yet because we lost too many wickets chasing 94 runs.”

The win against Ghana was Nigeria’s comeback after losing to Uganda by five wickets in their first game on Sunday at Gahanga 2.

Hosts Rwanda are currently at the top of the standings after winning their first two matches.

The top three teams from this division will join Kenya, Namibia, and Tanzania in the top division next year.