…Akwa Ibom Girls Take Rivers To the Cleaners
By Akanimo Kufre
The joy of being chosen to represent the state squad has now turned into a test of performance on the pitch, as cricket action for the south-south boys began last Friday.
On Friday, Edo State had a clear victory over Delta State by 35 runs. Saturday’s encounter showed a low-margin defeat was recorded against Akwa Ibom by Edo, the zonal elimination host for South-South.
However, after rounds of two matches in the south-south playoffs, Nigeria’s future cricket stars have started to emerge with record-breaking performances.
In the batting department, Diyyo Harrison of Delta State scored 99 runs to top about 90 batters in the male category.
Ogboe Unity from Edo State scored 86 runs from 2 matches and was followed by Akwa Ibom-born Bright Edem with 79 runs after two matches.
The cricket selectors board and coaches now have new bowlers to watch out for. They include Godstime Ayeprince who took 8 opponents’ wickets in 2 matches, Peter Prosper of Delta State has 7 wickets to his name while Akwa Ibom’s budding star, Fortune Onofiok recorded 5 wickets haul.
The top 3 Fielders are Dominion Joel with 4 dismissals while two Akwa Ibom players shared outstanding performances and personalities. Divinewill Aniedi and Divinewill Thompson both recorded 3 dismissals at press time.
The elimination actions continue on Sunday for both boys and girls at Adolor College and Iyoba College, Benin City, Edo State.
PWC U17 Cricket Championship Boys Result:
FRIDAY
Edo 191/9
Delta 156/10
(Edo won by 35 runs)
Cross River. 61/10
Rivers. 62/4
(Rivers won by 6 wickets)
SATURDAY
Akwa Ibom. 93/10
Edo. 94/9
(Edo won by 1 wicket)
Akwa Ibom 152/10
Delta.
(Akwa Ibom won by 67 runs)
Meanwhile Inyene Ubong from Akwa Ibom became a new cricket sensation when she anchored a brilliant batting role to help Akwa Ibom whitewash Rivers State by 98 runs for the first victory in 2024 NCF/PwC National U17 Cricket Championship in south-south.
Akwa Ibom scored 120 runs and lost 9 wickets in 15 overs (120/9). Rivers were subdued and all out after scoring a paltry 22 runs and all out (22/10) in 7.2 overs.
Inyene who batted 47 runs off 39 balls won the Player of the Match Award. The excited teenager told newsmen she was pleased to have won the award despite being so exhausted.
Blessing Etim, Nigeria’s female team captain who doubled as the coach of the Akwa Ibom female team said the girl’s performance was barely 50% of her expectations. She hopes the girls will perform better against Delta in their next game to qualify for the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Phillips Miebaka, coach of the Rivers State female team said his girls were greenhorns in cricket games. Miebaka blamed the huge gap between them and Akwa Ibom to barely 3 months in cricket.
Coach Miebaka assured that the experience will build them up while the state is making sure the generational gap in female cricket players is replaced. Rivers State formerly produces the bulk of the south-south players for the national team.
