Nigeria men’s national squad members have had an extensive preparatory campaign leading upto the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers in UAE from Oct 18th – Nov 02nd, 2019. The squad went to Zimbabwe to play a 6-match T20 series against the domestic franchise team, The Mid West Rhinos.
All the matches during their tour of Zimbabwe were played from Sep 26th – Oct 01st, 2019 and were played at the Kwekwe Sports club in Kwekwe, Midlands. Nigeria registered two wins in the 7-match series against the Rhinos during the tour. Nigeria travelled to Sharjah in UAE, where they played four games against UAE Development XI, Bukhatir XI and Kenya national squad from Oct 04th – 07th, 2019.
The highlight of their UAE tour came in the game against Kenya, whom they defeated by 49 runs to conclude their preparations. Nigeria missed out to Kenya on net run-rate during Africa regional finals tournament in Uganda and were given the chance to replace Zimbabwe (currently the national board in suspension) in the Qualifiers.
Nigeria are placed alongside Ireland, Oman, Hong Kong, Canada, Jersey and UAE in Group B in the T20 World Cup Qualifiers. They will also face Bermuda and Namibia on Oct 14th & 15th in the official warm-up matches before the tournament proper.
Nigeria tour of Zimbabwe (Brief Scores)
01st Match: Mid West Rhinos 149/6 in 20 overs (Takudzwanashe Kaitano 40, Tarisai Musakanda 32, Sylvester Okpe 2/17, Isaac Okpe 1/10, Vincent Adewoye 1/16) beat Nigeria 134/4 in 20 overs (Sulaiman Runsewe 55 n.o, Sesan Adedeji 47, Tafara Chingwara 2/16, Jabulisa Tshuma 1/12) by 15 runs
02nd Match: Nigeria 117/5 in 20 overs (Adeleke Oyede 38, Sesan Adedeji 20, Jabulisa Tshuma 2/18, Brandon Mavuta 1/21) lost to Mid West Rhinos 119/2 in 13.4 overs (Tarisai Musakanda 75 n.o, Isaac Okpe 1/10, Sesan Adedeji 1/19) by 8 wickets
03rd Match: Mid West Rhinos 139/2 in 20 overs (Prince Masvaure 61 n.o, Tarisai Musakanda 26 n.o, Sesan Adedeji 1/3, Chima Akachukwu 1/23) beat Nigeria 122/4 in 20 overs (Chimezie Onwuzulike 29 n.o, Daniel Ajekun 29, Adeleke Oyede 28, Brandon Mavuta 2/16, Wallace Mubaiwa 1/18) by 17 runs
04th Match: Nigeria 160/5 in 20 overs (Onikoyi Ademola 50, Chimezie Onwuzulike 42, Sulaiman Runsewe 26, Wallace Mubaiwa 3/18, Brandon Mavuta 1/22) lost to Mid West Rhinos 162/7 in 19.1 overs (Brandon Mavuta 44 n.o, Lavert Masunda 26, Daniel Gim 2/31, Daniel Ajekun 1/20, Oluwasesan Adedeji 1/33) by 3 wickets
05th Match: Nigeria 153/5 in 20 overs (Chimezie Onwuzulike 36 n.o, Sulaiman Runsewe 26, Onikoyi Ademola 23, Wallace Mubaiwa 1/15, Shepard Dube 1/27) beat Mid West Rhinos 138/8 in 20 overs (Tarisai Musakanda 31, Takudzwanashe Kaitano 22, Prince Masvaure 22, Adeleke Oyede 2/7, Sylvester Okpe 2/10, Isaac Okpe 2/33) by 15 runs
06th Match: Nigeria 126/7 in 20 overs (Adeleke Oyede 28, Chimezie Onwuzulike 19, Daniel Gim 14 n.o, Hussain Bhola 4/13, Nigel Mupurura 1/23) beat Mid West Rhinos 103 all out in 19 overs (Brandon Mavuta 39, Bright Matsiwe 22, Vincent Adewoye 4/21, Sylvester Okpe 2/19, Abiyodu Abiyoye 1/19, Sesan Adedeji 1/11) by 23 runs
Nigeria tour of Sharjah/UAE (Brief Scores)
01st Match: Nigeria 122/5 in 20 overs (Chimezie Onwuzulike 46 n.o, Isaac Okpe 25, Sesan Adedeji 14, Ahsan Shehzad 2/21, Mujahid Amin 1/12) lost to Bukhatir XI (UAE) 123/7 in 17.5 overs (Rizwan CP 33, Kashif Daud 32 n.o, Babar Ghazanfar 18, Vincent Adewoye 3/9, Sesan Adedeji 1/12, Mohameed Taiwo 1/17) by 3 wickets
02nd Match: UAE Development XI 153/6 in 20 overs (Vriitya Aravind 59, Rizwan CP 51, Ansh Tandon 18, Adeleke Oyede 2/18, Vincent Adewoye 2/24) beat Nigeria 63 all out in 12 overs (Isaac Okpe 14, Junaid Siddiqui 4/14, Tahir Lateef 2/7, Amir Hayat 2/16, Arslan Javed 1/18) by 90 runs
03rd Match: Nigeria 152/7 in 20 overs (Daniel Ajekun 73, Onikoyi Ademola 18, Vincent Adewoye 18, Emmanuel Bundi 3/32, Jasraj Kundi 2/25, Shem Ngoche 1/18) beat Kenya 103 all out in 16 overs (Jasraj Kundi 32, Dhiren Gondaria 16, Daniel Ajekun 4/15, Chima Akachukwu 3/21, Vincent Adewoye 1/9, Abiodun Abioye 1/21) by 49 runs
04th Match: Nigeria 103/6 in 20 overs (Sesan Adedeji 38, Vincent Adewoye 16, Junaid Siddiqui 2/13, Arslan Javed 2/22, Karthik Meiyappan 1/11) lost to UAE Development XI 108/2 in 13.3 overs (Muhammad Usman 47 n.o, Rizwan CP 26 n.o, Vincent Adewoye 1/18, Chima Akachukwu 1/28) by 8 wickets
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