Series: Nigeria Invitational 2022
Venue: TBS Cricket Oval
Format: T20I
Toss: Ghana
Result: Nigeria by 9 wickets
Yet another meeting between two teams yet to play each other when Nigeria took on Ghana for the first time. The history of the occasion was overshadowed by a hat trick to young fast bowler, Lillian Udeh.
Rhyda Ofori was back at the helm for Ghana after missing the previous match, and when she won the toss, chose to bat first. Elizabeth Annor (11) and Rashidatu Salia (4) got the innings off to a slow start, struggling against the pace of Lillian Udeh and the captain, Blessing Etim. It was Favour Eseigbe who made the breakthrough, dismissing both openers to leave Ghana struggling at 19/2 in the 8th over.
Scoring continued to be a challenge and wickets tumbled, but it became a procession once Udeh returned to bowl the 17th over. With her fifth ball she bowled Miriam Eshun (2) and with her final delivery, trapped the Ghana captain in front to have two wickets in two balls.
When Udeh returned to bowl the 19th over she caught Rozabel Asumadu off her own bowling from the first delivery and thus achieved a hat trick in just her third T20 International. he finished with 3-8 as Ghana finished with 56/8. Favour Eseigbe (3-13) also featured in the bowling.
Nigeria lost Lucky Piety (10) in the run chase but Kehinde Abdulquadri (34*) and Omonye Asika (15*) saw Nigeria home to win by 9 wickets. Beatrice Oduro (1-15) took the only wicket which was a stumping by Fati Bawa, the first for a Ghana wicket keeper.
Nigeria remain undefeated and collect the 2 points, but all the talk of the day was about “Kid Dynamite”, Lillian Udeh, and her hat trick which earner her Player of the Match. (It was the second hat trick by a Nigerian bowler, following Blessing Etim’s hat trick against Mozambique in 2019.)
Scores:
Ghana 56/8 (Elizabeth Annor 11, Lillian Udeh 3-8 Favour Eseigbe 3-13) 20 overs
Nigeria 60/1 (Kehinde Abdulquadri 31*, Omonye Asika 15*, Beatrice Oduro 1-15) 9.5 overs
Player of the Match: Lillian Udeh
Photos: courtesy NCF