Nigeria’s men’s cricket team, the Yellow Greens, slipped to a narrow one-wicket defeat against Tanzania in their opening warm-up game on Monday ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier. The qualifying tournament is set for Zimbabwe from September 26 to October 4.
The match was the first of two tune-up fixtures for the Nigerians before the qualifiers begin later this week. Batting first, the Yellow Greens were dismissed for 83 runs in 17.4 overs. Tanzania chased down the target in a tense finish, reaching 84 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 19.2 overs.
Despite the loss, a few Nigerians stood out. Isaac Danladi, who has been sharpening his skills in Zimbabwe for the past month, anchored the innings with 31 runs off 33 balls. Ridwan Abdulkareem followed with 14 runs from 25 deliveries, while Peter Aho impressed with the ball, claiming three wickets for just 15 runs in 3.2 overs.
For Tanzania, Abhik Patwa was the top scorer with 22 runs, while 20-year-old Laksh Bakraina — newly promoted from the U-20 side — caused problems with the ball, bagging three wickets and giving away only 11 runs in his four-over spell.
The Yellow Greens will be back in action on Wednesday when they face Zimbabwe in their final warm-up game. Their opening qualifier fixture is set for Friday against Malawi.
Led by ex-Kenyan international Steve Tikolo, Nigeria have been in camp in Lagos since July, following their outing at the Pearl of Africa tournament in Uganda. In Zimbabwe, they will square off against Namibia, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana and the hosts in a competition that will decide two more African representatives for the 2026 World Cup.
Nigeria earned their place in this stage of qualifying after topping Group B of the regional qualifiers last year. Meanwhile, 15 nations — including South Africa — have already secured their tickets to the World Cup, which will be jointly staged by India and Sri Lanka in February–March 2026.
