Nigeria’s senior women’s cricket team, the Female Yellow Greens, will be up against Malawi, in a must win last round-robin game of the ongoing 2024 Kwibuka Women’s T20i Cricket tournament in Rwanda, on Thursday, PRIMANEWS Sports Extra reports.
Currently fourth in the table with six points but with a better net run rate ahead of fifth-placed Kenya, a win for the Female Yellow Greens against their opponents today will guarantee them a third-place playoff match, having been mathematically beaten to the top two position by Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Nigeria’s hopes of nicking a top two finish in the round robin in order to advance to the final was dashed on Wednesday by a 64-run loss against second-placed Zimbabwe.
In an action-packed match, Zimbabwe set a target of 158 runs for the loss of seven wickets, making it difficult for Nigeria to chase in the second innings with just 94 runs in 18.2 overs.
Playing against Malawi, who have only won a game so far in the tournament, the Female Yellow Greens task seems easy but their captain, Favour Eseigbe, insists they won’t leave anything to chance.
“Results aside, we have some really good performances. At the same time we need the result to be in the desirable position. So, we can’t underrate our opponents, we just have to do our job and continue the learning curve.
“We won’t back down, we are here to compete after all,” Eseigbe said.
Kenya, who are also looking to displace Nigeria, are up against Botswana today as well.
Third-placed team and hosts, Rwanda, might also fancy their chances of sneaking back into the top two after the final round of games if they are able to beat second-placed Zimbabwe, who hold just a two-point lead ahead of the hosts.
For Uganda, who will face Cameroon, they are sitting comfortably at the top, and sure of a place in the final playoffs.
The 10th edition of the Kwibuka tournament ends on Saturday with the classification games.
