The Sierra Leone U-19 Cricket lads, Junior Patriots have finally secured revenge over their West Africa rivals, Nigeria with an emphatic 9 wickets victory in the ongoing ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup Africa Qualifier 2023 at the University of Dar es Salaam Ground in Tanzanian.
Monday’s deserving victory saw Sierra Leone finally end their winless run against the Junior Yellow-Greens of Nigeria to get off to a flying start in the tournament.
It was the Junior Patriot side who won the toss and surprisingly opted to take the field and bowl first, which commenced the all-West Africa fight from the first delivery.
Sierra Leone’s George Sesay came along to deliver the new ball, and delivering such a heart-piercing swing he got one maiden, took four wickets, and slipped off for 32 dot balls with a bowling economy of 2.14.
With the pace set, Ibrahim Sesay, Raymond Coker and Aliya came in for 21 overs virtually evenly distributed and took six wickets between them with Coker grabbing the lion’s share of three.
The bowling power of Sierra Leone limited the Yellow-Greens to 73 runs all out in 27 overs with Paul Pam securing 22 runs off 45 balls ad their top scorer followed by Izuchukwu Okeke with 10 runs from 29 balls before Selim Salua hit 3 off 7 for 42.86 net run rate.
Knowing they’ve fielded we’ll, the Sierra Leonean lad knows only a discipline play from the crease will secure victory and end their winless run over the Nigerians and it was Alusine Turay and Raymond Coker’s partnership that pulled off a great run with the pair scoring 60 runs combined.
Alusine Turay was not out for 38 runs off 51 balls and finished as Sierra Leone’s top scorer while Coker smacked 22 off 55 balls before he was caught by Prosper Useni from Ridwan Abdulkareem’s delivery.
If Nigeria’s Osemi had not caught Raymond Coker out, Sierra Leone could have cruised to the enjoyable victory with all wickets spared, but Emmanuel Mansaray came in for 2 runs receiving one ball, the three collectively conceding 12 extras by posting 74 runs for the loss of one wicket in 17.5 overs, marching down to a 9-wicket win of a squad who train on a dusty oval with the stony outfield.
Raymond Coker won Player of the Match to seal the day.
Cricket analysts say this is the biggest win of the five times both nations have met in ICC-arranged business.
Up next, Sierra Leone will face bulldog Kenya on Tuesday, 25th July 2023 and rest on Wednesday before taking on Namibia on Thursday.
Credit: AIPS Media
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