Rains disrupted the opening of the International Cricket Council U19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia match between Nigeria and Samoa.

The wet outfield at the Borneo Cricket Ground, Kuching, Sarawak, ensured the debutantes in group C shared both points on the day, without bowling a ball.

ICC match officials made the pronouncement after informing both team captains and coaches of their decision to abandon the game.

Certainly, not the start to the World Cup campaign either team expected but Sarah Bhakita, coach of the Nigerian team, said the team welcomes the decision in good spirit.

Ms Bhakita said, “Today’s game is not the outcome we anticipated. We can only control the controllable. We are playing cricket, not a certain team. We look forward to the next match against New Zealand on Monday. We will go hard because we know what is at stake. Our goal is to make it to the semi finals first before we can talk about taking the trophy to Nigeria. We will lift ourselves up and ensure that the next game we will give it our all.’’

Nigeria will take on South Africa on Wednesday, after the game against New Zealand on Monday. The 16-nation tournament is expected to end on February 2.

(NAN)