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By Abiodun Adewale.
South-West team recorded their first win in both male and female matches at the ongoing PwC/NCF U-17 Cricket championship on Friday, Saturday PUNCH reports.
The matches played at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja, saw the Southwest male team secure 111 runs against North-Central and also won by nine wickets against North-East in the women’s game.
The South-West team came up strong in their second game on Friday, after they suffered defeats to SouthSouth male and female teams on Thursday.
In the men’s game, North-Central won the toss and opted to field.
The decision relatively didn’t work in their favour as the Southwest batters took the shine off the bowlers with a couple of half-centuries from the side.
Wale Odukoya 52(34) scored the first half-century of this year’s edition as well as the first ever for the South-West team in the tournament.
The second innings saw the side limit North-Central to 75 all out in 22 overs.
They had player of the match, Kareem Gafar, do the work for the side with four wickets, three maidens, four runs in five overs.
The women’s game saw a more easier victory for the South-West team who needed just 6.2 overs to send the North-Central batters back to the dugout in the first innings.
Kehinde Amusan of Southwest got a five-wicket haul as they limited their opponents to 14 runs all out in 6.2 overs.
They also reached the target in 1.2 overs for the loss of one wicket to win by nine wickets.
At the end of the game, coach John Idakwo of Southwest, praised the players for their performance.
“We lost our both games yesterday to South-South but today (Friday) we came out stronger.
“I would say that we played like a wounded lion today because we were challenged by that defeat yesterday and saw our lapses.
“It is great seeing how much the players improved from the game yesterday and I must appreciate them,” Idakwo said.
