The third day of the U-19 Women's World Cup saw a major upset. African country Nigeria defeated Test playing country New Zealand by 2 runs in the group stage match. The match was played in 13 overs due to rain. Nigeria scored 65 runs, in reply the Kiwis team could only score 63 runs.
The tournament started from January 18 in Malaysia. 6 matches of the group stage were played in the World Cup on Monday. New Zealand suffered a defeat in Kuching. In the other match of the day, Samoa were bowled out for 16 runs against South Africa.
Nigerian players celebrate after defeating New Zealand by 2 runs.
Only 2 batsmen scored 10+ runs from Nigeria At the stadium in Kuching, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl. The match was played 13-13 overs due to rain. Nigeria's batting was very weak and the team could score only 65 runs with the loss of 6 wickets. For the team, Lilian Udeh scored 18 runs and Captain Lucky PT scored 19 runs.
Six of Nigeria's batsmen could not even reach the 10-run mark. Anika Toher, Hannah O'Connor, Anika Todd, Tash Wakelin and Hannah Francis took 1 wicket each for New Zealand. A batter was run out. New Zealand team gave 6 runs from wide.
New Zealand lost 2 wickets in Powerplay Chasing a target of 66 runs, New Zealand got off to a poor start. Emma McLeod 3 and Kate Irwin were dismissed without opening an account. The team lost 2 wickets on the score of 7 runs. From here, Eve Walland scored 14 runs and Anika Todd scored 19 runs to bring the team's score close to 50.
Captain Tash Wakelin settled at one end. He started to lead the team to victory, but Darcy was dismissed without opening the account. He was again joined by Ayaan Lambut, who scored 6 off 7 balls.
Nigeria ran out 3 New Zealand batsmen.
Couldn't score 9 runs in the last over New Zealand needed 9 runs from the last over to win. Captain Tash Wakelin was playing with 18 runs. 4 singles came off the first 4 balls, while the fifth ball was a dot. Now with 5 runs needed off the last ball, Lambeth plays a big shot and runs away. Both the players managed to score only 2 runs and were run out while trying to score the third run.
At the end of the over, the New Zealand team could score only 63 runs after losing 6 wickets. Nigeria bowled only 1 wide which was 5 less than New Zealand. New Zealand's extra runs played an important role in Nigeria's victory.
New Zealand players were disappointed after losing the match.
The captain became the player of the match Usain Pass, Adeshola Adekunle and Lilian Udeh took 1 wicket each for Nigeria. 3 batters were also run out. Team captain Lucky Peatee who scored 19 runs off 25 balls in the first innings got the player of the match award.
Australia had to wait for the win In the first match on Monday, Australia had to wait until the last over to win against Bangladesh. Batting first in Bangi, Bangladesh scored 91 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Australia lost only 1 wicket till 50 runs, but the team lost 8 wickets as they reached 86 runs.
Australia needed to score 5 runs in the last 2 overs, the team scored 4 runs in the 19th over. 1 run needed in the last over, here Habiba Islam of Bangladesh bowled a dot ball. However, Ella Briscoe from Australia took a single off the second ball to give the team a close match win by 2 wickets.
Samoa all out for 16 runs In Kuching, the Samoan team was bowled out for just 16 runs after playing 9.1 overs. 5 players could not even open their account. While 4 players could score only 1 run. Captain Avetia Mapu and Stella Sagalla scored the most 3 runs. South Africa scored 17 runs in just 10 balls and chased down the target without losing a single wicket.
5 players of the Samoa team could not even open the account. 4 batters could score only 1 run.
Scotland won a close match against Nepal Three more matches were also played on Monday. America and England had no trouble winning their respective matches. While Scotland defeated Nepal in a close match by 1 wicket.
- Ireland were bowled out for 75 in Johor. America achieved the target by losing only 1 wicket in 9.4 overs.
- In Bangi, the Nepalese team was all out after scoring 73 runs. It took Scotland 18.4 overs to chase down. However, the team achieved the target by losing 9 wickets.
- Pakistan team was limited to 66 runs in Johar. England achieved the target by losing 4 wickets in 9.2 overs.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).