Nigeria’s male senior cricket team will on Sunday (today) play against Eswatini and The Gambia in continuation of the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Sub Region B qualifier in Rwanda, Sunday PUNCH reports.
The Yellow Greens have so far won their first two games in the series and will be looking to strengthen their grip at the summit when they face Eswatini at the IPRC cricket oval by 9:30am before taking on The Gambia by 1:45pm at the same venue.
It’s the first time Nigeria will be playing two games in a day since the start of the qualifiers last week.
Following the opening day victory against Mozambique, the team continued its impressive run on Friday, as they edged Sierra Leone in their second game at the Gahanga Cricket Stadium by six wickets, after posting 63 runs in 12.3 overs and dropping four wickets in the process while Sierra Leone recorded 62 runs in 19.1 overs and all out.
Just like the first win against Mozambique, Nigeria won the toss of the match and elected to field first, thereby chasing the score in the second innings.
Nigeria’s Peter Aho was the player of the match against Sierra Leone with his superb bowling which earned three wickets for 18 runs in four overs in the first innings.
After the win on Friday, national coach of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Clive Ogbimi said, “The result comes with a good feeling and we are taking nothing for granted. The head coach, Steve Tikolo has restated his belief in the players abilities and he reminds them of the need for them to maintain their self-belief too. There is a strong impact from coach Tikolo with his insistence on our complete trust in the process and template of strong work ethics we currently operate.”
On the possible challenge that the two fixtures might pose on the players, Ogbimi said, “If we stick to our process, we can surmount any challenge from the two teams.”
