Nigeria’s Junior Yellow Greens have bounced back from a close loss to Uganda with a strong five-wicket win over Ghana at the Gahanga Oval on Monday. This victory boosts their chances for a spot in the 2028 ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup.
Keneth Boniface, who scored an impressive 97 runs off 107 balls against Uganda, continued his good form on Tuesday. Nigeria bowled Ghana out for just 93 runs, and then chased down the target with more than 27 overs to spare.
Boniface stood out with the ball, taking four wickets as the Junior Yellow Greens dismissed the Ghanaians for only 93 runs in 35.5 overs.
He also made an impact with the bat again, scoring 30 runs off 32 balls. Nigeria finished their innings with 96 runs for five wickets in just 22.2 overs.
After winning the player of the match award, Boniface spoke about the team’s strategy that helped him perform well at the crease. He said, “I’m just trying to go on with the team plan. The team plan is just to play around and get what I need, so I have to just wait there, enjoy the game, less pressure. That’s all.”
Nigeria’s captain, Ali Rahmon, shared his thoughts on the team’s approach and the areas they need to improve. He said, “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, the bowlers did a very good job restricting them to 94 runs.
“But I feel as a batting unit, we are not there yet because we lost too many wickets chasing 94 runs.”
Next, Nigeria will face the tournament hosts Rwanda on Wednesday. They will also play Mozambique before their final match against Sierra Leone, which will be another important test for their qualification chances.
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