Nigeria women's cricket bowed to their Rwandan counterparts by 53 runs at the Nigeria invitational tournament's finals on Sunday at the TBS, Lagos.
Nigeria went into field with Saturday's winning mentality as they slowed the big-hitting Rwanda team to 125/5. It all looked possible for Nigerians to walk away with the trophy by scoring 130 runs in the second innings.
The fortunes turned as Nigeria lost big wickets including Blessing Etim and Salome Sunday at awkward moments putting an Herculean task on Nigerian girls.
Rwanda afterwards tightened the screw on leaving Nigeria to chase 130 targets with tail-ender batters. Nigeria only made a paltry 76 runs for a loss of 10 wickets.
At the end of the tournament, the Most Valuable Player of the tournament award went to Rwandan Vumilia Marguerite, while Nigeria's Lilian Ude won the Best Behaved player award.
After the finals, ICC Africa supremo Patricia Kambarami, in chats with media commended Nigeria for successful hosting and for achieving so much in cricket development in recent times.
Similarly, the representative of the Minister for Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, Mrs. Mbora Ikana applauded Nigeria Cricket Federation for making Nigeria proud through bountiful cricket achievements.
NCF President, Mr Uyi Akpata assures more cricket exploits while appreciating partners and sponsors.
"Thank you for the fantastic response, particularly Access Bank. History has been made we can host an internationally sanctioned event here. By God's grace this time next year, it's going to be an 8-Nation Female Tournament." Mr Akpata said.
The event held at the newly refurbished Tafawa Balewa Square cricket oval from March 26 to April 4, 2022 in Lagos featured eventual champions Rwanda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Cameroon, and host country, Nigeria.
