Nigeria Beat Botswana To Lift World Cup Qualifier Trophy

Nigeria Beat Botswana To Lift World Cup Qualifier Trophy

Akanimo Kufre 

Captain Sylvester Okpe and his cricket team mates went into wild celebration as the Nigeria Yellow Greens secured emphatic victory over Botswana in Abuja Stadium, venue for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifiers sub-regional 'C' play offs.

Nigeria's cricket team made history on Thursday as they won all thier matches in the sub-regional qualifying campaign. Botswana team who were equally unbeaten in previous four games lost the trophy match to Nigeria by 77runs. 

The thrilling cricket encounter between Botswana started with Nigeria scoring 181 runs in 20 overs while Botswana were restricted to 104 runs all out in 18.2 overs. Nigeria's Kareem Ridwan won the Player of the Match award while Isaac Danladi was the Best Batter of the Match with 80 runs off 45 balls.

The excited Nigerian cricket captain Sylvester Okpe expressed his feelings after the Thursday match in Abuja.

"We are so happy to secure this victory and trophy before the home crowd. It is always a good feeling and exciting moment for us. 

"Right form the beginning we told ourselves that we are not going down without a fight. We were very confident in ourselves and in every game we stuck to our plans, at the end it came through. I thank my team, the technical crew and NCF for thier trust in us."

President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, (NCF) Mr. Uyi Akpata was pleased with Nigeria's victory and a successful hosting of ICC World Cup Qualifiers in Africa sub region.

"I am elated and extremely satisfied that we did not only met but super exceeded our expectations. I give God all the glory and to all the key stakeholders who have been part of the journey, you did a great job. We can now relax and celebrate. 

"Everybody in the world now know that we have this fantastic twin Oval in Nigeria.We have been able to pull it off. The curators, the ground crew, the spectators and LOC who worked in partnership with ICC team, the media and volunteers made it an awesome event"

Nigeria and five other African countries battled for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup ticket in Abuja from 23 -28 November 2024, where the top two finishers join Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Kenya for the final leg of Africa qualifiers.

The teams who participated in the Abuja playoffs are host Nigeria, Botswana, Sierra Leone, Eswatini,  Saint Helena and Cote d'Ivoire. Nigeria and Botswana qualified with unbeaten records.