Rwanda wins fifth game as Nigeria takes bilateral series 3-2

Rwanda yesterday in Abuja continued their resurgence in the five-match bilateral women cricket series with Nigeria, but the host still ran out 3-2 winners on aggregate.

Nigeria won the first three games of the series, which started on Saturday, but the Rwandese came out stronger on matchday four to record their first win and also took the last match with seven wickets yesterday.

After a pep talk by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) President, Prof. Yahaya Ukwenya, Rwanda won the toss and elected to field first, sending in the Nigerian team to bat.

Nigeria displaying their poorest performance in the series so far could only manage a total of 61 runs all out in 19.1 overs.

Nigeria’s captain, Blessing Etim scored 15 runs off 24 balls as the best effort for her team.

Iriho Veronique was the star performer with the ball for Rwanda with three wickets, conceding four runs and two maidens in four overs with an economy of 1.00. She was supported by Immaculate Muhawenina, who took three wickets for 14 runs in four overs with an economy of 3.50.

In the second innings, Rwanda showed their dominance and quickly chased down the required total to record a score of 62 runs for the loss of three wickets in 15.1 overs.

Ingabire Sifa scored 19 runs off 40 balls and Ishime Diane score 15 runs off 31 balls as the best performer with the bat for Rwanda.

The second leg of the series will come up in Kigali on June 2019.

Speaking on the series, NCF President, Professor Ukwenya thanked the Rwandan Cricket Association for honouring the invitation to play in the first leg of the bilateral series.

He said, “We are happy to have taken this initiative to promote female cricket in this part of the continent and we hope that this series would also foster diplomatic relations between both countries in a bid to begin a chain reaction in the growth and development of the game.”

The event climaxed with the presentation of awards to the teams and outstanding players, with the technical officials from Ghana presenting souvenirs to the captains of Nigeria and Rwanda.

Nigeria took the winners’ shield and gold m, with Rwanda getting the runners up shield and silver medal.

The Best Fielder award went to Uwera Sarah (seven dismissals), Iriho Veronique with nine wickets got the Best Bowler award, while Blessing Etim was named the Best Batter following her 70 runs.

Rwanda’s Iriho Veronique got the most valuable player award with her 61 runs, nine wickets, as well as the Best Fair Play award for showing empathy when she threw a ball that struck a Nigerian player.