Cricket: Okpe brothers mark 50th Nigeria caps with big win

Yellow Greens captain Sylvester Okpe (23) and his brother Isaac Okpe (29) both made their 50th T20 appearances for Nigeria and the country also recorded an historic 264 runs win over Ivory Coast in their second game of the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Qualifiers C in Abuja on Sunday, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

It was another commanding display from the Yellow Greens who opened their campaign with a 188 runs win over St. Helena on Saturday. It was more special for the Okpe brothers who both made their T20 debut for Nigeria on September 14, 2018, against North West at the Africa T20 Cup in South Africa.

While their debut was a 10-wicket defeat, their 50th caps is more memorable as Nigeria recorded the third victory margin by runs in T20 history against the Ivorians.  Their win was just nine runs behind Nepal’s 273-run win against Mongolia in September 2023 while Zimbabwe’s 290-run win over the Gambia last month is top of the leaderboard.

Nigeria batted first in the game with Isaac getting 65 runs from 23 balls not out, although it was Selim Salau who got the most with 112 runs from 53 balls as Nigeria posted 271 runs for the loss of four wickets in 20 overs.

It wasn’t a field day for captain Sylvester who only managed one run in the first innings and he returned one wicket in the second innings as Prosper Useni and Isaac Danladi with three wickets each and two others from Peter Aho saw to the early dismissal of the Ivorians in 34 minutes after just seven runs all out in 7.3 overs.

Salau was also named the Player of The Match for his impressive batting in the first innings.

Nigeria remain top of the table with four points and a superior net run rate of 9.550 ahead of Botswana, who also have four points from two wins.

Nigeria’s next game is a date with Eswatini on Tuesday.

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