By Hassan I. Conteh

The Cricket team of Nigeria has beaten Sierra Leone side in an ongoing West Africa T20I Trophy at Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval in Lagos capital.

Nigeria won Sierra Leone by 63 runs. The match 3 was played on Thursday 5, October, 2023, ending in a shocking defeat for Sierra Leone Cricket players. While Nigeria earned 155/6 (20 overs), Sierra Leone only got 92/10 (18.5 overs).

It’s sad news for Sierra Leone since the team players couldn’t make remarkable points. Sierra Leone’s Ramond Coker recorded (14.5 overs); Chernor Bah (18.5 overs); Lansana Lamin ( 5.4 overs) and so on.

On Sierra Leone’s 2nd Innings end of over, John Bangura had 36(48 runs) while Nigeria’s Runsewe Sulaiman scored higher than his counterpart with 79 (55 runs).

Four countries are participating in the West Africa inaugural edition of West Africa T20I Trophy, 2023, hosted by Nigeria.

Each team forms part of the triple round-robin format in the group stage. Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Ghana are among the participating teams in the ongoing Cricket tournament.

The tournament has started on October 4 and it will end on October 15, with 20 matches to be played in all.

Nigeria and Rwanda clashed on Wednesday 4th October as the opening match in the tournament.

In that match Nigeria beat Rwanda by 54 runs. The Nigerian cricketers topped with 127/8 ( 20.0/20 overs) while Rwanda only had 73 (18.1/20 overs.

The top two teams at the end of the group stage will lock horns in the Final for the West Africa T20I Trophy 2023 trophy.

In terms of international T20I standings, Nigeria ranks 42 nd, Sierra leone ranks 59 th, Ghana ranks 61 st, and Rwanda ranks 62nd.