Kenya’s U-19 men’s cricket team on Saturday defeated host Nigeria by 11 runs to win the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup Africa division two qualifiers in Abuja.

Kenya defeated their hosts in the final match of the nine-day competition at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.

They had won the toss and elected to bat, scoring 90 runs all out in 35 overs, while Nigeria came in to chase, only to score 79 runs in 20.4 overs.

Kenya thus won by 11 runs to finish first in the six-team competition and lift the trophy as champions of the World Cup Africa division two qualifiers.

Sierra Leone were third-place winners in the competition, based on ICC rankings.

The three teams will go on to feature in the division one in March 2023, with the host country yet to be decided by ICC.

Speaking after Saturday’s match, the coach of Kenya, Josphat lrungu, said his team defeated Nigeria based on experience.

“We came to Nigeria with the determination to return home with a ticket to qualify for Division One and  also win the competition. My players worked hard in all their games, even though our opponents in this final match played well.

“Nigeria has a set of good players, I must confess. But my players performed with all their strength from then beginning to the end of the game. We will now go back to Nairobi and start immediate preparations for the division one,” he said.

On his part, Daniel Gim, coach of the Nigerian team, said the most important thing for his team was to have qualified for the division one.

“It was a low-scoring wicket and we did not get our batting right today, and this is what affected our game. But we have learnt from our mistakes today (Saturday) and we will fix them before the division one,” he said.

The ICC U-19 men’s cricket World Cup Africa division two qualifiers began on September 30.

(NAN)