Tanzania’s Women’s Cricket Team has won the fifth edition of the NCF Women T20i Invitational Tournament concluded at the Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval in Lagos last Sunday.
Tanzania beat Sierra Leonian Women’s team by a whopping 92 runs in their last match of the event to establish their supremacy and finally seal their victory in the 5th NCF Women’s T20i Invitational Tournament.
Captain of the winning side, Neema Pius, said they prepared well for the event and were not surprised that the overall victory went in their favour despite the early slip that saw them lose their first match to Rwanda.
“We knew we would do well in Nigeria and the event was also important to us because of the All-Africa Games that we are going to in Ghana.”
Nigeria, the defending champion of the event, had to settle for a second place after the Yellow-Green Ladies held down their arch-rival Rwanda to a 20-run victory in the last match of the event.
Both pride and jostle for the second place were at stake when the match started but, Nigeria’s batting had to quickly set a 110/8, with Lucky Piety contributing 28 runs (including four boundaries). Esther Sandy (17), Salome Sunday (11), and Victory Igbinedion (11) all made good contributions to the total.
In the second inning, however, it was the bowling attack of the Nigerian women that won them the game. Christabel Chukwuonye took three wickets while Peculiar Agboya chucked off two on their way to limiting the Rwandan Women’s team to 90 in twenty overs.
President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, acknowledged that the event this year took a different turn by having a higher-ranked team joining Nigeria and Rwanda in the event, but he believes the development made all the teams better.
“The goal is to make the event one of the key pillars of cricket development for the female gender and it is fulfilling that purpose. Our teams will be at the All Africa Games and they will be going on the back of experiences and forms they have picked from this event,” Akpata said.
