The Nigeria women’s cricket team have rounded up their 8th Kwibuka campaign with a win over Brazil to claim the fifth place at the Gahanga Cricket Oval in Kigali Rwanda.
The 30 run win returned the team to winning ways after a string of losses mid-tournament to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
Coach of the team, Leke Oyede, said, “ the team struggled at some point, but honestly, those were teams that ranked higher and played better. But we have taken the learnings along the way and you will see that in the way the Nigerian girls played their last match.”
Nigeria opened the tournament with three successive wins against Brazil, Germany, and Botswana before the the girls crashed.
Coach of the Nigerian team attributed the strings of defeats to better oppositions.
“We lost to all teams that were naturally higher than us in ranking, but I believe we could have salvaged one or two wins from the four loses. But the team is growing and the games presented deep learning curve for the players individually and together as a team,” he added.
Meanwhile, Tanzania on Saturday emerged overall winner of the 8th Kwibuka Tournament by posting a 44-run win over defending champion, Kenya.
The win leaves the Kenyan team short of their fifth Kwibuka title.
Tanzania became the Kwibuka women’s T20 tournament champions for the third time and the second time since 2019.
They could not participate in the 2021 edition after the majority of the national team players and the coaching staff tested positive for Covid-19.
Tanzania’s Perice Kamunya was voted player of the final match during which she made 29 runs to inspire her team to the title.
Host, Rwanda, fell to the firepower of the Ugandan women in the third-place match and had to settle for the fourth place.
Debutants at the Kwibuka, Germany and Brazil had a win each.
