Nigeria’s female U-19 cricket team, the Junior Female Yellow Greens will arrive in the country on Friday (today), following their exploits at the 2025 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia, where they finished sixth and also sealed automatic qualification for the next edition of the tournament, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The team ended their campaign on Wednesday with a nervy six-run win over another test-playing nation, Ireland in their second Super 6 game.
It was Nigeria’s second victory of the tournament in three games after they also beat New Zealand by two runs in their first-ever ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. Their only defeat at the competition was against South Africa during the group stage.
The Junior Female Yellow Greens qualified from the group stages as the second-best team in their group before finishing third in the Super 6, just one point behind England who picked the second semi-final ticket in the group.
They had two games against Samoa (group stage) and England (Super 6) washed out by the rain but they had done enough in the other three games to pave the way for the next set of U-19 women’s players in 2027, as Nigeria will enter the next tournament in Nepal and Bangladesh automatically.
Despite missing the semi-finals by a slim margin, the team’s run at the tournament was nothing short of remarkable, being the first team from West Africa to take part in the tournament and attracting more attention to the game in Nigeria.
Head of Global Development for the International Cricket Council, William Gelenwright, commended the team’s effort.
“A stunning performance by Nigeria. I wonder if we will look back on this tournament as the inflexion point for Cricket Nigeria and the establishment of another genuine power in African cricket,” Glenwright said after Nigeria’s win over Ireland.
The 2025 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will end on Sunday as the four semi-finalists do battle on Friday (today).
Unbeaten South Africa will take on Australia in the first semi-final while reigning champions India play the impressive England in the other semi-final.
