Nigeria Beat Gambia by 160 Runs — Selim Salau's Hundred and a 197-Run Opening Stand Make 262 for 1

There are days when a batting side simply decides the bowling will not get a say, and Nigeria had one of them on Oval 2. Selim Salau and Isaac Danladi opened and were still together in the 17th over. By the time David Demba had Danladi caught by Abubacarr Kuyateh for 86 from 48 balls, the stand was worth 197 from 102 deliveries. Isaac Okpe then walked in and made 56 not out from 16 balls with six sixes, and Salau finished on 105 not out from 58, with twelve fours and three sixes. Nigeria made 262 for 1, more than 13 an over.

Gambia lost Muhammed Manga in the first over and Aniru Conteh in the second, and were 21 for 3 in the fourth. Andre Jarju's 39 and Frank Campbell's 25 added 40, but Ridwan Abdulkareem's four overs cost eight runs and brought three wickets, Sylvester Okpe took three more, and Gambia were all out for 102 in 17.2 overs. Nigeria won by 160 runs.

Only three Nigerians batted, and that tells you most of what you need. Salau was the anchor in the way a man scoring at 181 per hundred balls can be an anchor: he hit twelve fours and was there from the first ball to the last. Danladi was the more violent partner, four sixes and seven fours in his 86. And then Okpe, with the platform built, hit six sixes in sixteen balls, the last 65 runs coming in 20 deliveries. Nigeria hit 13 sixes in the innings, and Gambia's eight bowlers between them took one wicket.

The bowling was every bit as disciplined. Mohameed Taiwo bowled Manga in the first over and Peter Aho had Conteh caught behind by Ali Rahmon in the second. Isaac Okpe bowled a single over for one run and took the wicket of Kuyateh. Abdulkareem bowled Campbell, had Jarju caught by Taiwo and bowled Musa Jobarteh, four overs, a maiden, eight runs. Sylvester Okpe struck twice in two balls in the 12th over, Mustapha Suwareh bowled and Pa Assan Faye stumped, and came back for Demba.

It is not easy to bowl at batters in this mood, and Gambia never found the wicket that might have changed the shape of the day; when it came in the 17th over, Nigeria were already 197. Frank Campbell's three overs for 30 were the tightest of the eight spells. With the bat, Andre Jarju's 39 from 38 balls, with two sixes, was a proper innings in a chase that was gone from the second over, and David Demba's 19 from eight showed there was hitting in the side. Campbell and Jarju took Gambia from 21 for 3 to 61 for 4, and that 40-run stand is the one Gambia can take into the rest of the week.

Opening stands of 197 do not happen often in any T20 cricket, and this one was built over 102 balls. Every over after that was a matter of how many, not whether. Salau batted through all 20 overs, a Nigerian opener carrying his bat for a hundred on the first day of a World Cup qualifier at home in Abuja. For a cricket nation that has worked a long time for days like this, it was one to keep.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we'll have full analysis for the next encounter.

Nigeria followed this with a nine-wicket win over Zambia on October 21, Danladi making 90 not out, and sit alongside Uganda on two wins from two. Gambia lost to Mozambique by 28 runs the same day and are still looking for their first win. The round robin runs until October 25; Nigeria have Uganda, Lesotho and Mozambique to come, and Gambia have Uganda, Lesotho and Zambia.