Cricket: Gallant Ghana celebration cut short as Sierra Leone defend title

All that's well ends well they say, but in this case, Ghana will not be able to agree.

After three days of putting out their best in the Africa Cricket Association's Northwest Africa Women's tournament, the host nation lost out on the ultimate to defending champions Sierra Leone.

On the last day of the highly competitive three-day event, Ghana were determined to fight tooth and nail to make their opponents Sierra Leone taste defeat. And boy did that happen!

Sunday's game saw Ghana, as always, choose to field first, wanting to have a fair idea of their opponent's loopholes. Sierra Leone grabbed every opportunity that came their way, threw out every missile they had and scored a hundred and six (106) runs for nine (9) wickets in twenty (20) overs.

After gaining quite a lot of ammunition from their opponents, it was Ghana's turn to bat.

Sierra Leone ensured there were border guards at every space available, keeping their opponents at bay but the very determined Ghana side defied all the odds to record victory in eighteen (18) overs. In the end, the hosts scored one hundred and seven (107) runs for five (5) wickets.

In the day's other match, Gambia lost to Nigeria by fifty six (56) runs. Nigeria batted first and scored a hundred and thirty six (136) runs for six wickets in twenty (20) overs, while Gambia struggled to score eighty (80) runs for nine (9) wickets in twenty (20) overs. With all of these results recorded by the respective participaring countries, it meant Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone were all tied on four (4) points each after two wins each, leaving the Gambia with no point.

The net run rate was therefore needed to break the tie, cutting team Ghana's wild jubilation really short.

From the collation done by the tournament's technical committee, Sierra Leone came tops and defended their title with a net run rate of 1.242, Ghana was in second place with 0.968 and Nigeria in third place with 0.589. Gambia placed fourth with -3.226.

Ghana however moved a place up after finishing third in the maiden edition hosted by the Gambia in 2015.

That's how the cookie crumbles on the Africa Cricket Association's Northwest Africa Women's tournament 2017, until next time, it's a wicket on me!

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