Visiting Rwanda yesterday at the newly constructed turf pitch in Abuja beat Nigeria by five wickets to record their first win in their five-game tour of the country. But the Nigerian women still lead the series 3-1 after four matches.

Nigeria had beaten the Southern Africans in the first three games to go 3-0 up, but the Rwandans came out smoking in the fourth game, restricting their hosts to 79 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs.

Nigeria won the toss and elected to bat first for a change. Esiegbe Favour was the hosts’ top performer with 16 runs, Agatha Obulor scored 14 runs not out, Blessing Nwobodo also scored 14 runs and Captain Blessing Etim got 10 runs.

In the second innings, Rwanda came out firing on all cylinders with a dominant bating display, racing to 50 runs in just 11 overs, while losing three wickets in the process.

Ishimwe Dusabemungu Diane with a master class performance of 21 runs off 45 balls, supported by Captain Uwera Sarah with 18 runs off 31 balls, were the top performers with the bat for Rwanda.

Rwanda eventually chased down the required total to record 80 runs for the loss of five wickets in 17.2 overs.

Earlier in the third match of the five-game series, Nigeria beat Rwanda by seven wickets to take the lead 3-0.

The hosts won the toss and elected to field first for the third time in three matches. Rwanda started brightly but the opening bowling pair of Blessing Etim and Rachael Samson caused early damage to the ambitions, while Agatha Obulor completed the job in the closing stages of the innings, restricting Rwanda to a meagre 60 runs all out in 16.3 overs.