TheCable

Host Nigeria and Kenya on Friday booked their places in the next round of the U-19 ICC World Cup qualifiers.

Both countries qualified for the final of the division 2 tournament holding at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on Saturday.

Nigeria, who played Malawi on the pitch 2, beat the visitors by 225 runs with Izuchukwu Okeke scoring 84 runs to win the man of the match award. Nigeria’s captain, Ridwan Abdulkareem, also took six wickets in the encounter.

The Junior Yellow-Greens had won the toss and elected to bat, setting a total of 258 on the board in 49 overs. Malawi could only squeeze in 33 runs in 12.5 overs that their wickets were run out.

Wale Obalola, vice-president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), said the host put up a commendable performance with its 100 per cent record in the qualifiers.

Obalola also said he is confident the players will deliver against Kenya in the final.

“We are glad our team has booked a spot in the Division 1 qualifiers and I feel very positive the boys will ride on the immense support they have from the ground to win the series here,” he said.

Coming from one week break after Ghana and Mozambique pulled out of the tournament, Kenya were held to 153 runs by Sierra Leone who had hoped to ride on its batting strength to oust the Kenyans in the second inning.

Vishal Patel, Kenyan captain, who also won the player of the match award, said: “Our team had some synergy and that helped us. We needed to be more disciplined in the position the game had put us and it was all we needed to curtail the Sierra Leonians to the 81 runs semi final win. We look forward now to the final with Nigeria and I think we can win.”

The final between Nigeria and Kenya and the third place match between Sierra Leone and Malawi will hold simultaneously at the pitch 1 and 2.

While the two teams playing the final have already picked slots in the final qualifiers taking place next year, winner of the third place match will pick the final slot available.