Cricket: Rwanda Beat Ghana in the first Match of 'NCF Women's T20 International' held in Lagos

The Rwanda Women’s National Team won the first match against Ghana in the “NCF Women’s T-20 International” tournament in Lagos, Nigeria.

In this match played on Monday, March 27, 2023, Rwanda won against Ghana by 117 runs.

The 3rd edition of the NCF Women’s T-20 International Invitational tournament began in Lagos with Nigeria against arch rivals Sierra Leone. After a slight delay to the opening proceedings the match was recalculated by the technical team to 19 overs.

DAY 1 MATCH 1: Nigeria vs Sierra Leone

Nigeria won the toss and elected to field first, sending in Sierra Leone to bat.

Opening pair of Fatu Conteh and Emma Kamara started brightly aided by extras from the opening bowling pair of Nigeria to see them scoring 16 runs in the 2 overs. After the fall of wicket, Sierra Leone could not hold it together as the crumbled to a total score of 65 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 19 overs.

Zainab Kamara scored 13 runs off 25 balls and was supported by Emma kamara with 12 runs off 18 balls as the best bating figures for Sierra Leone.

Lucky Piety and Abdulrasaq Rukayat bot had 2 wickets conceding 8 and 6 runs respectively in 4 overs each.

In the second innings, Nigeria had a shaky start to their run chase losing 4 wickets in the power play for 25 runs. Agatha Uaidiale had to play an ODI’s innings of 11 runs of 36 balls to steady the ship while youngster Lucky Piety faded any hope of Sierra Leone creating an upset with a quick fire 22 runs off 24 balls with 3 boundaries.

Nigeria eventually chased down the required total to record 67 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 14.1 overs.

Opening bowling pair of Janet Kowa and Alice Fillie both got 2 wickets each and conceded 17 and 15 runs in 4 overs.

Lucky Piety was named player of the match.

Nigeria won by 6 wickets.

DAY 1 MATCH 2: Ghana vs Rwanda

Ghana won the toss and elected to field first, giving the opportunity to Rwanda to bat. Rwanda showed class and demonstrated how to approach the power play overs, scoring a total of 53 runs for no loss.

Ghana got a breakthrough in the 8th over but Sarah Uwera made sure the scores continued to tick. At midway point, Rwanda was 89 runs for the loss of 1 wicket.

Sarah Uwera spectacular performance was capped with a resounding 60 runs off 61 balls to lift her bat to the cheers of all spectators, becoming the first half centurion of the tournament.

The Inshimwe sisters of Giselle and Henriette both had brief cameos with double figures of 14 and 32 while Umutoniwase Clarisse scored 23 runs to contribute to the overall total of 158 for the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs.

In the second innings, Ghana could only manage a total of 41 runs all out in 16.3 overs.

Inshimwe Henriette was the star performer with the ball for Rwanda with 4 wickets including a hat trick, conceding 4 runs in 2.3 overs to earn her the player of the match award.

Rwanda won by 117 runs

Day one Results

• Nigeria edge arch rivals Sierra Leone by 6 wickets in match 1 of the NCF Women’s T-20 tournament in Lagos.

• Lucky Piety of Nigeria is named player of the match against Sierra Leone with an all-round performance of 22 runs, 2 wickets and 1 catch.

• Uwera Sarah scores tournament first half century with 60 runs off 61 balls as Rwanda beat Ghana by 117 runs.

Tournament Schedule:

MONDAY 27TH MARCH

Nigeria vs Sierra Leone (9:30am)
Ghana vs Rwanda (1:30pm)

TUESDAY 28TH MARCH

Cameroon vs Nigeria (9:30am)
Sierra Leone vs Ghana (1:30pm)

WEDNESDAY 29TH MARCH

Rwanda vs Sierra Leone (9:30 am)
Cameroon vs Ghana (1:30pm)