Akanimo Kufre
It was a tension soaked cricket encounter between Sierra Leone Patriots and Nigeria Yellow Greens on Pitch 2 of Abuja Stadium as the West African rivals clashed at the crucial stage of ICC Men’s World Cup African Qualifier C on Wednesday morning.
While Nigeria batted first, the Patriots of Sierra Leone showed discipline and class in their howling performance to keep Nigeria scoreline at 141 runs for loss of 6 wickets (141/6). Isaac Danladi contributed 46 runs, Selim Salau 31and Runsewe Sulaimon. Nigeria players were compelled to accumulate most of their points running on foot against big boundary points- sixes and fours. Sierra Leone bowlers only donated 8 extra balls.
The second innings came with different tension as the Patriots resisted the Yellow Greens’ attempts to restrict their runs tally. Abass Gbla played 41 runs off 41balls. Aruna Kainessie batted 24 while Lamin Lansana gave 11 runs to secure a near success chase.
Nevertheless, the Yellow Greens bowlers were more determined to dominate the age-long rivalry with more experienced wicket takers in their squad. Danladi, Peter Aho and the Okpe brothers all took wickets each to demoralised the Patriots.
The innings slowly came to end with 112 runs with 5 wickets lost (112/5).
Nigeria won by 29 runs while Isaac Danladi again went home with the Player of the Match award. This victory marked Nigeria’s best winning streak in an ICC organised tournament.
While Nigeria has officially secured the ticket in this round of Six, Coach Okon Ukpong, former Technical Director of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), harps on the need for Nigerian players to improve on side-on batting skill which offers batter more access to ball and authority over bowlers. Nigeria would be playing against four other countries who qualified from two other African zones.
Nigeria will play top ranked Botswana team on the last match of Thursday.