Nigeria, Uganda battle for cricket bronze

Nigeria will go head-to-head against 18th-ranked Uganda in the third-place match of the women’s cricket event at the ongoing African Games in Ghana as the event’s debut reaches an exciting climax at the Achimota Cricket Oval in Accra on Wednesday (today), PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

The Female Yellow Greens lost by five wickets against Zimbabwe in the semi-finals while Uganda lost by 50 runs against South Africa to set up the clash and leave the first two teams on the continent to also slug it out for silver and gold.

With nine places between Nigeria (27) and Uganda (18) in the T20 rankings, the Female Yellow Greens will not be buoyed by the credentials of the Victoria Pearls, having faced and conquered a higher-ranked opponent in Namibia during the group stages.

“I must commend my teammates for their efforts so far. Everything we have done individually and as a team has kept us in the competition so far. We will come back stronger to play on Wednesday (today),” Female Yellow Greens captain, Blessing Etim, said.

Uganda captain, Consy Aweko, who achieved her 100 wickets career record in T20i, said she’s looking to get the bronze for consolation.

“We did what we wanted to do, but we gave out a lot of runs. They took their chances and got the win. We have another day for my batters to come show us what they have to get us a medal,” Aweko said after their loss to South Africa.

Nigeria and Uganda met recently at the T20 World Cup qualifiers last December with the Victoria Pearls winning by six wickets.

The third-place match between Nigeria and Uganda will be played at 10am Nigerian time while the final between South Africa and Zimbabwe will follow by 3pm.