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NIGERIA STARTS WORLD CRICKET TOURNEY ON A GOOD NOTE BY DEFEATING NORWAY BY 5 WICKETS | (2011-05-03 )

Nigeria, on Sunday, May 1 defeated Norway by 5 wickets,limiting Norway to 166 runs in its reduced overs game at BCA Oval 1. A poor start by captain Damien Shortis who departed for just seven runs, while his fellow two top order batsmen, Shahid Mahmood and Ehetsham-ul-Haq both out for ducks. Nigeria's medium pace bowler, Kunle Adegbola took 3 wickets for 31,Ramit Gill accounted for 2 for 20 while Captain Ofem claimed 3 for 12.

The middle-order steadied the ship for the European team despite some strong bowling by medium-pacer Kunle Adegbola and captain Endurance Ofem.   

In reply Nigeria’s opening batsman Ademola Onikoyi got proceedings off on the right foot scoring 40 off 32 balls. Norway’s Umran Shahzad and Barbar Shahzad tried their hardest to keep the runs scoring at a minimum with the pair seeing off Ramit Gill who scored 37 of 69 balls as well as key middle-order batsmen Akabogu Okwudili and Ofem. 

Norway’s fielders failed to keep the runs off the board with the African side striking 18 boundaries to reach the target, with Sean Philips (39 not out) hitting seven of those, and alongside Adegbola(14) the pair finished that match to give the side a five-wicket win as the sun began to set over the ground.Ramit Gill (Nigeria) won the Man of the Match Award.  

Captain Ofem admitted he’d expected more of Norway as a side: “I expected more from Norway today especially as they played in Division 6 but they were not nearly as tough as I had expected. I probably would have liked it if we lost fewer wickets than we did – we probably should have ended the game only two batsmen down. 

“Tomorrow is crucial for us and we feel if we win tomorrow then we know we’re in for a big tournament here. I was pleased to take a few wickets today, my pace bowlers suggested I had a bowl at the Powerplay and then later in the game both of my pacers had bowled their overs so I decided to step in and the wickets came not long after that.”