Nigeria fail to subdue Zambia
The chances of the
Nigeria U-19 cricket team getting one of the two available tickets to
the U-19 World Cup grew slimmer yesterday as they were beaten by Zambia
with three wickets. Zambia scored 178 for nine in 50 overs and the
Nigerian reply was a mere 115 for 10 also in 50 overs. The Zambian team
had lost its two earlier matches.
The weakest link in
the Nigerian team was bowler Melvin Bwalya, who bowled out Rotimi
Adesanya and Oluwaseun Adeboro in successive innings for a total of 16
runs. James Chukwu came on to try and lift the team but his partnership
was again cut short by Bwalya who caught out Behani for just 10 runs.
At this point it was 81 for 6 with 15 overs left. Mumba Chanda caught
Olusola Anyia for nine balls and the Nigerian batsmen were falling like
ninepins. Chukwu was also caught by the deadly Chanda for 23 runs from
33 balls. With the top batsmen out of the crease at 99 for 8 with 10
overs remaining, Nigeria’s chances were gone.
The team will play Sierra Leone today, and only a win can keep it in the top division.
Uganda riding high
The Ugandan U-19
team, winners of the 2009 ICC Africa U19 CWCQ, continued winning in
this year’s qualifier with another assured victory over Sierra Leone,
who they restricted to a paltry 72 for 10.
The Uganda bowling
attack for the third day bowled their opposition out for under a
hundred. The prize bowler for Uganda was Faruk Ochimi with four Sierra
Leonean wickets for 17 runs.
The Sierra Leonean attack hardly troubled the Ugandans, who knocked their opponents off in 30 overs.
Monday matches
At the Wanderers Oval in Windhoek, the Namibian U-19 team had comprehensively beat neighbours Zambia.
Stephan Baard was
the pick of the Namibian bowlers with 4 for 35 in six overs as Zambia
made 158 all out. The run chase began in earnest with Namibia breaking
at lunch with 80 for 1. They passed the target score in the 32nd over
with seven wickets in hand, with Justin Baard making 45.
Cricket powerhouse, Kenya was given a run for their money but they
eventually overcame Sierra Leone by 20 runs and remain unbeaten in the
three matches played.
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