Fourteen for Five by the Fifth Over — Mohameed Taiwo Settles It Before Sierra Leone Can Begin

Some matches take three hours to decide. This one was more or less decided in 27 balls. Nigeria A chose to field, Mohameed Taiwo bowled Raymond Coker with the first ball of the match, and by the fifth over Sierra Leone were 14 for 5.

What followed was a rearguard by one man. Aliya Kamara made 37 from 41 balls, with three sixes, and was last out as Sierra Leone reached 67 in 16.3 overs. Nigeria A needed seven overs to get there. Nigeria A won by nine wickets with 78 balls to spare, their fourth win in five matches.

Taiwo's four wickets were Coker, Alusine Turay, Yegbeh Jalloh and Eric Turay, three of them for nought and all four inside the first six overs. Mustapha Yusuf took two at the other end. At 20 for 6 after six overs, the only question was whether Sierra Leone would reach 50.

The support bowling was just as tight. Elochukwu Ndubudem's four overs cost nine runs. Gafar Kareem bowled two overs for three runs and took two wickets, one of them Ibrahim Kpaka, who had helped Kamara add 39 for the seventh wicket. In the chase, Miracle Solomon was bowled by George Sesay for 2 with five on the board. Elijah Jimmy (39 not out from 21) and Sesan Adedeji (25 not out from 18) then added an unbroken 65 from 37 balls and were done inside seven overs.

Five of Sierra Leone's top seven made 6 or fewer, and three of them made nought. At 20 for 6 a total is little more than a rumour, and Aliya Kamara spent 41 balls trying to turn it into a number. He hit three sixes, made 37 of his side's 67, and put on 39 for the seventh wicket with Kpaka. When he was finally caught off Folajimi Owolabi, in the only three balls Owolabi bowled, it was the last wicket of the innings.

With 67 to defend there was little the bowlers could do. Raymond Coker's two overs cost 11 and included a maiden, but Samuel Conteh's one over went for 21, and the game was over before the eighth.

The scores suggest the danger was all at the start of Sierra Leone's innings. Five wickets went in 27 balls against the new ball. Kamara and Kpaka then batted for eight overs together without much trouble, and Nigeria A scored at ten an over in the chase. On a surface where the early overs have to be survived, Sierra Leone didn't survive them.

Figures of 4-1-11-4 speak for themselves, but it was when he took them that mattered. A wicket with the first ball of the match, then three more before Sierra Leone had reached 15. Everything that followed, including Kamara's fight, happened in the space Taiwo had already cleared.

We did not publish a preview for this fixture, so there is no call to grade.

After the day's two matches, Nigeria A lead the table with 8 points from five games (four wins, one defeat). Nigeria have 7 (three wins, a defeat and a no-result), Sierra Leone 5 and Ghana 0. On September 27 Nigeria A play Ghana and Nigeria play Sierra Leone. A win over Ghana would put Nigeria A out of Nigeria's reach at the top. Unlock CricIntel Pro for more T20 analysis.