Junior Female Yellow Greens take U-19 Cricket W’Cup by storm

Following Nigeria’s win over New Zealand at the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup on Monday, ABIODUN ADEWALE writes on the prospect of the team as the sport gains attention in the country

In a football-mad country like Nigeria, it could be difficult for other sports to gain attention.

But when a sport like cricket, which is relatively unknown among the over 200 million population, wakes the country up on a Monday morning, it means there could be more potential behind the victory that is being celebrated.

Nigeria’s female U-19 cricket team, the Junior Female Yellow Greens, became the toast of the country on Monday after upsetting test-playing nation New Zealand by two runs to secure a historic win in their first game at the 2025 ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia.

It was a delayed debut for the team, having seen their first game, which was supposed to be against Samoa washed out on Saturday.

Despite another rain delay at the Borneo Cricket Ground in Sarawak, Malaysia, there was no denying Nigeria’s buzzing stars a chance to shine as the game was reduced to 13 overs and the girls snatched the win in stunning fashion.

After an early peck on the woods, captain Lucky Piety led the charge scoring Nigeria’s first World Cup six while Lilian Ude added 19 runs before a four off the final ball from Omosigho Eguakun saw Nigeria set up New Zealand to chase 66 runs for the loss of six wickets in 13 overs.

If the first innings was tough, what was to come in the second was tougher with New Zealand being in control for the most part despite Nigeria taking an early wicket with the first ball.

Ude bowled a perfect final over, conceding only six runs with a run out on the final ball as Nigeria claimed a special and historic win.

For her 18 runs off 22 balls and a sharp bowling spell of one wicket for just eight runs in three overs, the captain, Piety, was awarded the Player of The Match award, affirming her teammates’ choice of her as the game-changer before the start of the tournament.

Beyond the oval, several Nigerians are still finding it strange that the country has a cricket team and talk of beating the world’s fourth-ranked nation New Zealand at the World Cup.

“Unbelievable! I have never even seen a cricket field in Nigeria before. It’s like India winning a match at the World Cup,” a Nigerian, Amara Nwankpa wrote on X amid the buzz about the win.

Gabriel Onifade also wrote, “This is amazing. Congratulations to our Nigerian ladies. They are making us proud. I don’t know that Nigeria plays cricket.”

Perhaps because of comments like these, the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, usually recounts the board’s effort in developing the game.

Before the start of the U-19 Women’s World Cup, Akpata exuded confidence in the team’s ability to project the country’s cricket to the world.

“We are here to announce ourselves to the world and make Nigeria proud,” Akpata told NCF Media.

“Our participation is on the back of six to seven years of hard work and deep grassroots developmental work. Some of the efforts even earned us global awards. The girls know what is expected, and the support from everyone back home will see us go far. I am confident in our abilities.”

Another major reminder for the Nigerian sports populace is the fact that the country won a bronze medal at the African Games last year in Ghana, with about seven players from the current squad being part of the women’s senior national team that achieved that.

After Monday’s win, the captain of the team, Piety also re-echoed Akpata’s sentiments with due credit to her teammates.

“This is a very special moment for us. There were a lot of catches and a lot of running between the wickets that I could not have done alone. Well played by the team, everyone did their best and it was a collective effort from everybody,” Piety told ICC Media Zone.

“We have been training for a long time. Back in the qualifiers, we had so many things to do back home and work on and of course, work on our weaknesses as well as our strengths. With our resources, we have been able to pull off this wi,n and it has been teamwork.”

Head coach of the team and former Kenyan international Sarah Bakhita, explained how the Junior Female Yellow Greens were able to get the better of their opponents.

“It felt so good, we knew that it was never in doubt and making it happen was big,” the coach said.

“The second innings was quite nerve-wracking and one thing about our team is a solid bowling attack. We analysed some of their strengths and the girls played to what we discussed.”

Nigeria are now second in Group C with three points, one point adrift of leaders South Africa who brushed aside Samoa by 10 wickets for their second win of the tournament.

Both Nigeria and South Africa are well positioned to advance into the Super 6 stage of the tournament but they will face off Wednesday to decide who finishes on top of the group.

Being the first major tournament that the country’s flag will be hoisted in 2025, it was only natural that the girls give Nigeria a befitting start and there might be more to come in the coming days when the tournament wraps up by February 2.

“Our strategy in the Nigeria camp is one game at a time; we have taken one, and there is still more to come,” Captain Piety said.