Cricket U17: South West men’s and women’s teams earn massive wins

South West teams recorded impressive victories in both men’s and women’s matches at the PwC/NCF U-17 Cricket Championship on Friday.

The South West men’s team secured 111 runs against the North Central while the South West women won by 9 wickets against the North East in the women’s match.

The Southwest teams came out strong in their second game the day after they lost to the South-South men’s and women’s teams on Thursday.

In the men’s game, North Central won the toss and elected to field. However, the decision did not work in their favor as the south-western batsmen took the shine off the bowlers with a couple of half-centuries from the side.

Wale Odukoya 52(34) scored the first half-century in this year’s edition as well as the first ever for the South West team in the tournament. Odukoya was supported by teammates Daniel Joseph 52(50) and Femi Oresanwo 25(24) as their efforts saw the South West team score 186/7 in 25 overs.

In the second innings, the sideline north-central 75 all out in 22 overs.

They got man of the match Kareem Gafari to do the job in the side with 4 wickets, 3 maidens, 4 runs in 5 overs.

The women’s game saw an easier victory for the Southwest team, who needed just 6.2 innings to send the North Central Storms back to the dugout in the first innings.

South West Kehinde Amusan got five wickets as they restricted their opponents to 14 runs in 6.2 overs.

In reply, the South West team reached the target in 1.2 overs for the loss of one run to win by 9 wickets.

South West team coach John Idakwo praised his players for their performance.

We lost both of our games on Thursday down south, but I’m glad we came out stronger in this second game. It’s great to see how much the players improved, Idakwo said.

On his part, the coach of the North East team, Obinna Ohurogu, praised the performance but admitted that the lack of facilities in their area was a daunting challenge for his players.

Some of the players here are seeing these wooden clubs for the first time, as well as pads and gloves. So it was not surprising that they struggled, but I think they will be good in the years to come,” he said.

Six teams representing Nigeria’s geopolitical zones will participate in the fourth leg of the championship series, which concludes on Sunday.