Nigeria A secured a narrow victory over Ghana, winning 113 to 112 in their Quadrangular Twenty20 series fixture in Nigeria on Thursday. The match ended with just one run separating the sides, a finish that kept spectators on edge until the final ball.
The result extends Nigeria A's perfect start to the tournament. Three wins from three games puts them at the top of the table with six points, while Ghana remain rooted to fourth place after four defeats and zero points accumulated.
There was a familiar tension here, a derby with no love lost between these West African rivals. The two teams had met just two days earlier on September 23rd, when Ghana edged out Nigeria A by a solitary run in a 66-65 contest. This time the outcome was reversed, but by the same margin.
Ghana arrive at this match reeling from a heavy 84-120 defeat to Sierra Leone earlier on the same day. Four losses in four games tells you everything about their campaign so far, and nothing about what might come next. The standings say little when every team has played different numbers of matches.
Things came to a head in what must have been the final over. A one-run victory means either side could have walked away with all the points, and that is what makes this format so unpredictable. The high line was picked apart, or perhaps the bowling simply ran out of ideas.
For Nigeria A, the perfect record continues with momentum building. For Ghana, another defeat adds to a difficult start, though one match does not define a season. The table will shift once all teams have played the same number of games, but right now the leaders are clear.
