Nigeria Stun Rwanda to be Crowned Champions of 5th NCF Women’s Invitational WT20i 

Nigeria at the weekend emerged champions of the NCF’s Five-nation Women’s Invitational Championship after defeating Rwanda by 9 runs.

In the third place match, South Africa Women’s U-19 beat their Zimbabwe counterparts by 70 runs to finish 3rd position. 

In the tantalizing final played at the TBS Cricket Oval in Lagos, Nigeria won the toss and elected to bat first as expected, hoping to set a decent total worth defending in the tournament named after Zimbabwe’s Patricia Kambarami. 

The husband of the late Africa’s foremost development officer, Bobby Kambarami watched the final from the VIP stand on Saturday.

The early overs were plagued with dot balls and surprisingly a maiden 4th over, as Nigeria never really got going. 

After 6 overs of batting power play, the Nigeria women were on 27 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Esther Sandy was introduced, providing the required spark with a couple of boundaries to get Nigeria back on track.

All that was halted when Ester Sandy was run out after contributing 26 runs off 28 balls. Captain Lucky Piety was introduced and as expected, she scored a couple of boundaries but was unlucky to be caught out for 17 runs off 15 Balls in 13.3 overs with Nigeria on 62 runs for the loss of 2 wickets.

From then, it was a free fall as Nigeria could not manage a decent partnership, losing the next 7 wickets for a combined 18 runs to finish with a total of just 80 runs all out in 20 overs.

The icing on the cake was Rwanda Captain Marie Diane Bimenyimana finishing with a hattrick of wickets as she consolidates her total wickets for the tournament with 14, leading the log.

In the second innings, Nigeria opening bowlers were tidy on the lines, giving nothing away in the first 2 overs to restrict Rwanda to just 3 runs. Rwanda stayed patient, scoring the first boundary in the 3rd over to finish with 7 runs. Peace Usen clawed back 2 quick wickets of the dangerous Fanny and Giselle as Rwanda finished the 5th over with 19 runs. At the end of the batting power play of 6 overs, Rwanda Women were on 23 runs still for the loss of 2 wickets.

Nigeria got another breakthrough when Clarisse Umutoniwase was dismissed for just 9 runs off 14 balls with Rwanda on 35 runs after 10 overs. Nigeria continued to fight as they managed to drag the game to 30 runs off 30 balls with 5 wickets left in the mix to be taken. 2 wickets for captain Lucky Piety flipped the game in favor of Nigeria for the first time as Rwanda required 24 runs off 20 balls. 3 wickets dropped quickly again with the last pair needing 17 runs off 11 balls. 

Unbelieving to the literal eyes, maximum excitement laced with a full dose of panic for both teams but proper enjoyment for neutrals, Nigeria rose from the ashes to snatch what would be considered a remarkable victory against such arch rivals, becoming the least number of runs successfully  defended in the history of this tournament. 

In the end, Rwanda finished agonizingly short with 71 runs all out in 20 overs.

Peace Usen finished with 3 wickets, conceding 18 runs in 4 overs, and was named player of the match for the third time in 6 matches 

In the Individual awards, Rwanda’s Marie Diane Bimeyinmana, was named the MVP while Zimbabwe’s Beloved Biza was the Best Batter. The duo of Nigeria’s Peace Usen and Chukwunonye Christabel were awarded the Best Bowler and Best Fielder Honours respectively.