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GHANA WINS ICC/ACA NWA REGIONAL U-17 TOURNAMENT IN ABEOKUTA | (2008-11-18 )

Ghana a fortnight ago emerged the North-West Africa (NWA) regional U-17
champions
when they won the Otunba Gbenga Daniel trophy by defeating hosts,
Nigeria in the
final match of the tournament at the MKO Abiola Stadium Oval in
Abeokuta.
 
Youths from Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone and hosts
Nigeria had
assembled in the Ogun State capital to do battle for regional supremacy.
 
 The six teams were pooled into two groups with Cameroon, Gambia and
Nigeria in
Group A with venue at MKO Abiola Stadium while Group B had Ghana, Mali
and
Sierra Leone playing at the Abeokuta Sports Club grounds
 The tournament was to be played with a round-robin series at the
Group stages with two teams emerging from each group to play semi-finals
and
subsequently the winners of the two semi-final matches meeting in the
finals.
 
DAY 1 had Nigeria defeating Gambia by 7 wickets after Gambia made 82 all
out
which the host team knocked off with the loss of 3 wickets. Ghana on the
other hand,
thrashed Sierra Leone by 167 runs after notching up 240 runs and
restricting their
opponents to just 73.
 
DAY 2 had Nigeria scoring 174 runs in 38.5 overs against Cameroon who
could only
respond with 35 runs all out thereby conceding victory to the hosts by
139 runs. Ghana
scored a record 418 runs against newcomers Mali who responded with 31
runs with
Ghana notching victory by 387 runs.
 
DAY 3 had Gambia defeating another newcomer, Cameroon by only 8 runs in
a close
encounter after the Gambians had scored 102 runs all out in 28 overs
with Cameroon
responding with 94 all out in 24 overs.
 
DAY 4 saw Nigeria who topped Group A locking horns with runners-up in
Group B,
Sierra Leone in a semi-final encounter while Ghana who topped Group B
took on
Gambia who finished up as runner-up in Group A in the other semi-final
match.
 
Sierra Leone was bowled out for 84 with P. Emmanuel scoring 30 runs for
his side
while Nigeria's James Chukwu took a career-best haul of 8 wickets for 13
runs.
Nigeria responded with 87 for the loss of 6 wickets and thereby won by 4
wickets
and qualified for the final match.
 
Ghana in the second semi-final match notched up 332 runs for the loss of
7 wickets
in 40 overs with Simon Ateak scoring an unbeaten 105, the only century
of the series.
the Gambians were all out for 20; Ghana thus winning by 312 runs and
qualifying for
final against host Nigeria.
 
DAY 5 pitched host Nigeria against tournament favorites, Ghana. Ghana
batted first
and scored 159 all out in 30 overs with Simon Ateak getting 46 runs ;
whilst Nigerian
bowlers Apedo Daniel had 4 wickets for 29 runs and Abiodun Abioye had 3
for 29.
 
Nigerian batters faltered in response and collapsed at 49 all out
conceding the trophy
by 110 runs to the Ghanaians.
 
The top 8 batsmen were monopolized by the Ghanaian team with 4 out of
the 8;
Simon Ateak scored an aggregate of 264 runs in 4 matches finishing with
an average of
132; followed by J Quee of Sierra Leone who scored a total of 117 runs
with an average
of 39; then E Marrah also of Sierra Leone who had an aggregate of 75
runs and an
average of 37.5
 
For bowling, the top 10 list had 3 Nigerians, 3 Ghanaians, 2 Sierra
Leoneans and 2
Cameroonians. James Chukwu finished with the highest wicket haul of 14
wickets at
an economy of 2.7 rpo; while his team-mate Abiodun Abioye took 13
wickets at an economy
of 3.7 rpo; I Aboagye of Ghana took 12 wickets at an economy of 1.9 rpo
 
Simon Ateak, the Ghanaian captain was adjudged the Man-of-the-Series for
his splendid
batting which included the only century of the series.