Abuja, Jan. 30, 2019 (NAN) – Nigeria’s national female cricket team on Tuesday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital won the bilateral international cricket series against Rwanda with a 3-2 victory.
In the five-match event, Nigeria claimed victory in the first three games, with their visitors staging a comeback in the last two at the event held at the Abuja National Stadium.
The result means Nigeria would be placed ahead of the East African side in subsequent International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings as the series is a ranking event.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that prior to this series both countries were not on the rankings list.
After the event, Yahaya Ukwenya, the President of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), said the country had achieved its aim through the series.
« We have achieved our objectives on all counts. We wanted to foster a relationship with Rwanda for a number of reasons.
« One of it is that they have one of the best facilities in Africa, though they are a developing cricket country like us, and that tells you why the contest have been very close.
« Secondly, we wanted to test our girls, give them the opportunity to play as a team and evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, » he said.
On his part, coach of the Rwandan side, Joshua Mwanja, said the team has taken lots of positives from the game.
« It was a learning process for us and we have definitely seen our errors and we hope to work on them before the ICC World Qualifiers in May, » he said.
NAN reports that the series was a preparatory ground for both teams ahead of the World Qualifiers in May.
The four-day tournament which began on Saturday ended on Tuesday, with the return leg scheduled for June in Kigali.