Team St Helena fell to a disappointing defeat to Nigeria on day one of the tournament, as they failed to reach the required target of 186 and lost by 118 runs.
The match started brightly for St Helena when Aiden Leo dismissed Salau for just 10 runs in the third over, but were unable to maintain that pressure and Nigeria scored steadily until Scott Crowie dismissed Runsewe.
Nigeria continued to a total of 186.
St Helena found the batting conditions difficult indeed and were headed for a sub 50 defeat before the arrival of Aiden Leo to the crease who top scored for the team with 19 and carries the team to the 20th over and a total of 67.
Of course disappointing for the team and the fans, but they are eagerly looking forward to this afternoons match against Eswatini, where they will be looking for a comeback.
Speaking after the game team members said they really struggled with the pace and loft of the pitch… Described by one player as a piece of sponge.
We have noted comments from some followers on social media about the names used in the commentary, as middle names are being used instead of last names. This is of course outside of our control. However, each evening Managers are called to a technical meeting with the ICC tournament director to discuss any issues and the matter has been raised with them.
On the plus side, the weather has been absolutely brilliant. Yesterday was the hottest since the teams arrival in Nigeria, and as I have now found out, cell phone cameras do not work in these temperatures, so the phone spends most of its time in the ice box instead of my hand.
