Nigeria Women’s Senior Cricket team on Wednesday defeated her Ugandan counterparts by 5 runs at the ongoing Kwibuka Women’s Cricket tournament in Rwanda, Kigali.

The low-run scoring thriller had fans on their feet as Nigeria snatched victory from the defending champions, halting their win streak after six games in a row.

Uganda won the toss and opted to field at the Gahanga A oval, while all-rounder Kehinde Amusa again had one of the best performances with the bat- 33 runs of 54 balls.

Amusa was closely supported by Salome Sunday with 14 runs off 25 balls as the rest of the Nigerian batting line up were unable to make major contributions with the bat.

Nigeria was restricted to 73/9 in their allotted 20 overs.

In the second innings, Uganda looked to chase the score relatively comfortably, till the death overs as the Nigerian bowlers began tightening the screw.

With two overs to go, Uganda needed 6 runs in 12 balls with four wickets in hand.

Nigeria’s Lilan Ude was handed the ball in the penultimate over and she delivered a maiden wicket, swinging the pendulum back to her team’s favour.

The last over saw Anointed Akhigbe pick three wickets in the last over to bowl out Uganda for 68 runs. Nigeria won by 5 runs.

After the game, Favour Eseigbe, captain of the Nigerian team, said the team had to follow through their game plan.

“We had a low total to defend and at some point the game was slipping through our hands and I told my players that `he who is down should not be afraid of falling’.

“So, we decided to apply ourselves more in the game, stick to the basics as we had nothing to lose and the result turned out in our favour,’’ Eseigbe noted.

On her part, Janet Mbabazi, captain of the Ugandan side, commended the Nigerian spirit, adding that they would return stronger.

“I felt it was a target we could chase, but it is a game and sometimes, things do not work in your favour. So, I congratulate Nigeria. We will be back stronger,’ Mbabazi said.

The tournament, in its 11^th edition with nine teams participating, is in commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.(NAN)

Manchester City have completed the £46.3 million ($64.47 million) signing of Netherlands midfielder Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan.

The Premier League club have confirmed the 26-year-old has put pen to paper on a five-year contract at the Etihad Stadium.

His arrival makes it four signings in a week for City, who announced deals for £30.

5 million midfielder Rayan Cherki from Lyon and Chelsea’s third-choice goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli on Tuesday, while left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri joined from Wolves in a £31. 3 million move on Monday.

Those transfers have been finalised in time for the players to be registered for the group stages of the Club World Cup this month.

Reijnders arrives at City after impressing in an otherwise disappointing season at Milan, who finished eighth in Serie A and missed out on qualification for Europe.

He scored 15 goals in the 2024-25 campaign and will bolster Pep Guardiola’s midfield options following this summer’s departure of Kevin De Bruyne.

The Dutchman said: “I am ecstatic to be signing for Manchester City. City are one of the biggest teams in the world, with the best coach, world-class players and outstanding facilities.

“Under Pep Guardiola, City have won so many titles and I want to help keep that going with a lot more success in the coming years. It is also a dream come true to play in the Premier League.

“This league has seen many of the best Dutch players perform through the years and it’s an inspiration to follow in their footsteps.

“I am really looking forward to getting going, meeting the other players and showing the Manchester City fans what I can do.”

City’s latest transfer activity continues an overhaul of the squad that began with the January signings of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

Further deals are also possible as the club respond to a disappointing season in which they failed to mount a strong Premier League title defence and exited the Champions League before the last 16.

Director of football Hugo Viana added: “We are very happy that Tijjani has joined us and we’re excited for him to join Pep’s squad.

“Tijjani adds extra energy, composure and creativity to our midfield, and working with Pep and our coaches will only see him go from strength to strength.”

City will play their first match in the Club World Cup against Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca on June 18 and have further group games against Al Ain of Abu Dhabi and Juventus.

Ahead of the FIFA U20 World Cup in Chile, Flying Eagles coach Aliyu Zubairu has assured that plans are on to invite new players to strengthen his squad.

Zubairu stated this on Tuesday in Ilorin at the Kwara SWAN Hard Talk.

“We’ll be inviting more players to bolster all departments.

We must fix the issues we saw at the AFCON, especially our finishing,” he said.

He acknowledged the team’s struggles with goal scoring during the recent U-20 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco.

The coach said that the new additions would bring more balance and depth to the team.

“We will be inviting more players to strengthen all departments,” he said.

He emphasised the need to address key deficiencies so far observed in the team.

In spite of the team narrowly missing the AFCON title, Zubairu praised the team’s qualification for the World Cup as a significant achievement.

He promised to surpass the milestone achieved by Samson Siasia, who won a silver medal with the Flying Eagles at the U20 World Cup final in 2005 in the Netherlands.

He attributed the poor performance of El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri in the 2024/25 NPFL season to a lack of cohesion in the mid-season signings and the exit of two key players to Europe. (NAN)