Cricket: Lucky shines as Nigeria thrash Ghana in U-19 series

Fast-rising Nigerian player Piety Lucky was named the Player of the Match as Nigeria’s U-19 female cricket team beat their Ghanaian counterparts by 178 runs in the first game of their series at the UNILAG cricket oval on Sunday, The PUNCH  reports.

Lucky was just three runs shy of a century with 97 runs from 53 balls, including 12 fours and two sixes.

Nigeria won the toss and elected to bat first, racing to 212 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs.

Ghana’s task of beating Nigeria’s total in the second innings was stifled by the incredible bowling of Peculiar Agboya and Peace Usen, who got three wickets each, limiting the Ghanaians to just 34 runs all out in 8.5 overs.

The series was organised by the Nigeria Cricket Federation to tune up the preparations of the team for the 2025 ICC U-19 World Cup qualifiers in Rwanda later this month.

Nigeria and Ghana are joined by a selected Nigerian side led by batter Sunday Salome as well as the Southwest female cricket team.

In the opening game of the series, the selected Nigerian team defeated Team Southwest by 67 runs.

The Nigerian U-19 team will try the selected Nigerian side for size on Monday (today) in their second game.

Abiodun Adewale

Abiodun, who reports Sports for PUNCH, covers different tiers of the Nigerian football league, the national teams, as well as cricket, in the last six years

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