Abuja- The Rivers team on Sunday in Abuja posted 93 runs in 18.4 overs against their FCT counterparts to win the fifth edition of the National Female Cricket Championship.
In the match played at the Cricket Oval at Package B of the National Stadium, the eventual winners won the match by four wickets.
Although the Rivers side won the toss, they had chosen to field first, with the FCT team garnering 92 runs in 20 overs.
The FCT side lost nine wickets in the process.
In spite of a sluggish start at the start of the second innings, Rivers however chased the score down with Odun Sylvia scoring 12 runs and bowling three wickets.
Reacting after the game, FCT’s player/coach, Flavia Wayana, said the team lost the game as a result of fatigue.
She however said she was not disappointed at her team finishing as runners-up, saying it would rather make her team work harder ahead of the championship’s next edition.
“I do not feel so bad, because we did not reach this stage last year. So, this is still okay for us because we came out second. By next year, we will work harder.
“But I believe we lost today’s (Sunday’s) game because the girls are tired. We played two games yesterday, while our opponent played only one.
“So, my players were already exhausted. But, it is still okay. They made the runs off their bats.
“We fought well, but it was just a hard game,’’ Wayana said.
On his part, Rivers’ Team Manager, Tonye Timinadi, said the team won the match by correcting the lapses noticed on Saturday.
He added that the win was easy for them because of their spirit of chasing and winning.
“I feel glad because this is the first national cricket tournament that we are winning. So, it is a historical one for us to win the trophy.
“The advantage we had today (Sunday) is that we fixed our bowling errors which we noticed yesterday (Saturday) and today’s (Sunday’s) bowling errors were meagre.
“And, normally we bat first when we win a toss. But today (Sunday) we decided to field first because we noticed that we know how to chase runs and we don’t know how to defend runs.
“So, we won with the spirit of chasing and winning which we have,’’ Timinadi said.
In the third-place match played earlier, Anambra won the match against Kaduna State by nine wickets.
Kaduna state won the toss and elected to bat first and they were able to post a total of 37 runs in 10 overs for the loss of four wickets.
Anambra took over the battling crease in the second innings and exceeded the required runs by scoring 39 in five overs.
Anambra’s Blessing Etim gave her side the victory by scoring the highest run of 12.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day championship which began on Saturday had five teams taking part.
They were from five zones of the country, namely South-East, South-West, North-West, South-South and North-Central.
NAN reports that individual awards were given to outstanding players with Anambra’s Esther Birn winning the Batsman of the series with a total of 35 runs.
Kaduna state’s Hannah Ayoka won the Bowler of the series with five wickets while the Fielder of the series award went to Rosemary Godspower from Rivers.
Lucy Ojobo from FCT won the Wicketkeeper of the series while the Man of the match of the series was Fate Fyneface from Rivers who had 34 runs and three wickets.
NAN reports that Lagos state had won the fourth edition of the championship.(NAN)
