Despite losing by 10 wickets to Australia in the opening tie at the 2020 ICC U-19 World Cup, Captain of Nigeria, Sylvester Okpe admitted their flaws but assuring that they would raise their game when they take on West Indies tomorrow.
It was Nigeria that won the toss and elected to bat first. Miracle Ikaigbe and Runsewe Suleimon opened the bating for the team and very quickly Suleimon was out just after 2 balls. Nigeria was 12 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 5 overs and after 10 overs were 28 runs for the loss of 3 wickets.
Wickets fell in quick successions and Nigeria could not muster a decent partnership and were bowled out for 61 runs in 30.3overs. Elijah Olaleye was the only spark in the Nigerian team with 21 runs off 53 balls.
India-born Tanveer Sangha was the star performer with the ball for Australia with an impressive statistics of 5 wickets for 14 runs in 10 overs with 4 maidens in the process.
In the second innings, Australia made light work of run chase racing to 50 runs in just 7 overs, Nigeria were not really impressive on the pitch either with dropped catches, miss-field and lost run out chances.
Australia finished the match with 10 wickets intact scoring 62 runs.
In his post-match interview, Okpe said the weather coupled with poor outing of the team cost them the tie. “I think the players were not comfortable with the weather but we take positive from the fact that the bowlers pulled well. I believe if we keep bowling to plan and target, we will do well in our next game. We also need to express ourselves by batting well. We hope that before the next game, we will get more practice and going into the game with a positive mindset,” Okpe said.