Nigeria win again, beat Botswana by 10 wickets

Nigeria’s quest for one of the three tickets to Africa Division One continued on a positive note, yesterday, at the ongoing ICC U-19 World Cup Africa Division Two Qualifiers in Abuja.

Led by Daniel Gim, Nigeria defeated Rwanda in the opening game on Friday and then repeated the feat against Botswana, yesterday, winning both games by 10 wickets. The two victories have inched Nigeria closer to another World Cup dream.

The game, at the Cricket Pitch B of the MKO Abiola National Stadium, saw Nigeria win the toss and elect to bowl.

Elochukwu Ndububem and captain Ridwan Kareem did much of the damage against the Botswanaian side, jointly taking out six wickets in 11 overs.

The visiting side needed to rely on Karabo Makwatse and Leungo Mosalaesi to put up 36 runs in 25 balls collectively to see Botswana score 56 runs all out in 24.2 overs.

A very disciplined Nigerian side came on to chase the target, relying only on the partnership of Pam Paul and Selim Salam to finish the game with 58 runs, no loss of wickets in 10.5 overs.

Nigeria will square up against Sierra Leone, today, in their last final group B game.

Six teams are currently featuring in the qualifiers with the top three teams to progress to the next stage of the World Cup qualifiers.