Kwibuka Women’s T20
- Nigeria 73/9
- Uganda 68 all out
- Nigeria won by 5 runs
The female Yellow Greens of Nigeria ended Victoria Pearls’ unbeaten run at the Kwibuka Women’s T20 tournament, inflicting a five-run defeat on the defending champions.
Uganda won the toss and elected to bowl first. Kevin Amuge (1/6) was the standout bowler, with team Captain Janet Mbabazi (4/16) picking up wickets from the pressure created by the other bowlers.
Uganda bowled excellently to restrict Nigeria to 73/9 in their 20 overs.
In the run chase, Uganda looked comfortable in the beginning with Esther Iloku (15) and Immaculate Nakisuyi (13) in charge of proceedings. However, a cluster of wickets fell in succession that left Uganda reeling with 6 runs required from 12 balls. Annointe Akhigbe (3/11) defended six runs in the final over.
The tail for Uganda failed to get their act together and in the end dropped their first points of the tournament.
The loss will have consequences in terms of rankings since Nigeria is ranked 27th in the World, and they will get a chunk of points from the higher-ranked Ugandan team.
Uganda will finish its round robin action tomorrow against the hosts, Rwanda, who also lost their first game of the tournament against Tanzania.
Can Nigeria build on this upset to challenge for the Kwibuka T20 title? Or will Uganda bounce back?