By Jeniffer Achieng

The eighth match between Nigeria and Eswatini took place at NCF Oval 1, Abuja on Tuesday November 26. Thousands of fans turned up just to watch how the electrifying match would unfold and for those who couldn’t get a sit in the venue were not left behind as the match was live streamed on Fancode app and website in India. In the previous match, Nigeria faced Saint Helena and slammed them with a 118 win at the University of Lagos while on the other end, Botswana didn’t show any mercy to Eswatini and defeated them by 48 runs in the ICC T20 sub regional Qualifier. With the humiliating loss from the previous game, Eswatini players were well prepared to shine in the 8th match of the series and showed some resilience. The match began and Eswatini won the toss but decided to bat first against Nigeria.

Player of the match title was awarded to Isaac Danladi from Nigeria after posting a spectacular performance of 28 runs off 14 balls. Eswatini bowlers played well with Ridwan Abdulkareem and Isaac Danladi being named the top bowlers after scoring 19 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 4 overs and 13 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 4 overs respectively and were able to dismiss Eswatini’s batters in the first innings.

In the second inning, the Yellow Greens popularly known as Nigeria did not start on a good note, they struggled as some of the players in batting lineup were not able to reach half a century.  Nigeria’s top bowlers were Mancoba Jele who contributed 19/1 in 2 overs and Melusi Magagula who made some significant efforts and contributed 19/1 in 3 overs.

Top and best Batsmen from Eswatini team were Adil Butt who smashed 88 runs off 60 balls and Tarun Sandeep who struck 17 off 19 balls. Nigeria defeated Eswatini by 5 wickets with 30 balls left. The match came to an end with Nigeria winning their third win at 138/5 in 15 overs. The win was contributed by Selim Salau when he struck 31 runs off 20 balls and player Olayinka Olaleye who stabilized the inning and hit a solid 31 runs off 20 balls while Eswatini were defeated at 137 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in 20 overs. With the third win, Nigeria now has six points and they are at the top of the table

The competition is expected to end on Thursday and the best two teams will move to the final qualifiers for the 2025 T20 World Cup. Ivory Coast is expected to face Eswatini in the 12th match of the ICC T20 World Cup Sub Regional Qualifier C on Wednesday,27th at the University of Lagos Cricket Oval, Lagos.