Africa representative, Nigeria has put the ICC Women’s U19 World Cup on notice, after two impressive warm up games as the competition begins this weekend in Malaysia, Sports247 reports.
A few days after losing narrowly to highly fancied Pakistan, the Nigeria teen girls
chased down Scotland’s 62 in just 11.3 overs at the Royal Selangor Club in the Wednesday test match to make a statement about their intention at the world cup.
Lilian Ude ensured there was no respite for the Scots in Nigeria’s push, claiming 3/15 to back the work of opening bowlers Peace Usen and Muhibat Amusa. Pippa Sproul’s 25 helped Scotland’s pushback, but the wickets kept tumbling at the other end.
Captain Piety led Nigeria in the chase, finishing 28 not out from just 16 balls, hitting three sixes, with Victory Igbinedion making another score of note (25) after her work against Pakistan two days ago to close out the win.
Nigeria will be making her debut at the ICC Women’s U-19 T20 World Cup with first game against Samoa on Saturday at the Borneo Cricket Ground, Sarawak at 3 am Nigeria time.
The team will then take power houses in New Zealand and South Africa by next Monday and Wednesday respectively.
Clearly Nigeria is the underdog in the group but the Yellow Greens coach, Sarah Bhakita is confident that her have shown a bit of what they can with their friendlies and expect her wards to do better than what they did in their warm up matches.
“The warm-up matches have hinted at what we should expect at the tournament proper. Game-winning builds confidence, and we hope to perform better in the coming games,” Bhakita told the Nigeria Cricket Federation Media in Malaysia.
The Nigerian team is gradually warming their way into the hearts of many fans in Malaysia with their spirited performance in the friendly matches but they need to translate it into great results in the competition proper.
Australia will face Scotland in the opening game on Saturday as a total 41 matches will be played in four venues to determine the champions of the world of the second edition after
India, won the inaugural edition in South Africa in 2023 after defeating England in the final
