At the ongoing North-West Africa U-17 Cricket Tournament in Ogun State Nigeria, the Sierra Leone National U– 17 Cricket Team has lost their first match to Ghana.
After the toss was won by Ghana, they decided to bat first and scored 240 runs for the loss of six wickets in 40-overs. Isaac Aboagye scored 43 runs; Julius Mensah scored 42 runs and Simon Ateak scored 60 runs not out. Julius Quee took 3 wickets for 8-overs and Edward Marrah took 2 wickets in 8-overs.
As the Sierra Leone Team took the crease they replied with 78 runs all out at 23.3-overs. Julius Quee scored 14 runs and Ibrahim Mansaray scored 11 runs. Vincent Ataek took 3 wickets, Isaac Aboagye and F. Apedo took 2 wickets respectively.
The Ghanaian Team could boast of five (5) players presently in the senior National Cricket Team and all of them have proved their mettle. Sierra Leone would only qualify for the Semi- Final if they beat Mali today in their second match.
According to the President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation and also Africa Cricket Association Regional Director for North-West Africa, Kwesi Sagoe, “cricket by all standards is on the rise in Nigeria and the whole of North-West Africa region”; as U-13, U-17, U-19 National Cricket Teams have been included in the ICC – Africa tournament structure.
Due to the present structure, there are four tiers of path way modules for the growth of young cricketers all over the world backed by regional and continental tournament to enhance the developmental process.
The Competition started on Monday 3rd Nov 2008, with six countries participating and these include Nigeria, Ghana, Mali Cameroon, Sierra Leone, and the Gambia. The tournament is been played in forty-over basis.
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