Nigeria Beat Mozambique by 7 Wickets — Isaac Okpe's 4 for 3 and Ali Rahmon's 41 Off 24 Make It Three From Three

Some bowling figures need no explanation. Isaac Okpe bowled 3.4 overs, two of them maidens, and took 4 for 3. Mozambique chose to bat and had reached 30 for 0 through Joao Hou's sixes when Okpe bowled Jose Bulele in the sixth over. Two overs later he had Gomes Gomes caught behind and bowled Farruque Nhaduate. Mozambique went from 30 for 0 to 32 for 3, and they never recovered. Okpe finished the innings in the 20th over, and Mozambique were all out for 93.

Nigeria needed 94, and they needed only 51 balls. Nigeria won by 7 wickets with 69 balls to spare, and they have now won all three of their matches.

Nigeria used nine bowlers, but Okpe's spell decided the game. After he removed the top three, Ridwan Abdulkareem had Hou caught by Akhigbe for 35 and Lourenco Salomone caught by Sylvester Okpe. Peter Aho had Vieira Tembo lbw, and at 77 for 6 Mozambique had only Agostinho Navicha left to hit. He hit three sixes in 20 from 12 balls before Elochukwu Ndubudem had him caught. Akhigbe took two of the last three wickets, and Okpe took the last.

Selim Salau, who had already made 105 not out against Gambia, hit a four and a six in 21 from 9 balls. Ali Rahmon then hit eight fours in 41 from 24 balls and added 50 from 28 balls with Akhigbe. Tembo took two wickets in his only over, removing Rahmon and Sylvester Okpe, but by then Nigeria were almost home.

Hou hit four sixes and no fours, and for five overs Mozambique looked like they might set a real target. Bulele made only 5 from 17 balls at the other end, though, and once Okpe broke through, the next two batters lasted seven balls between them. Navicha, whose 61 not out beat Gambia two days earlier, again showed he can hit, but he came in too late to change anything. Nine Mozambique batters made 6 or fewer.

Only Tembo had any success with the ball. Charles Mbebe's three overs cost 34, and Nigeria scored at more than 11 an over.

Twenty-two balls, three runs, four wickets. Okpe bowled two of his victims and got a third caught behind, and his first three wickets came across his first two overs. The scorecard doesn't say how he did it, but it shows what he did: he turned a decent start into a collapse, and Mozambique never got the momentum back.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview, so there is no prediction to grade. We'll have full analysis for Nigeria's remaining games.

Nigeria and Uganda have both won all three of their matches, and on our own net-run-rate calculation (cricinfo's table still has none) Nigeria are narrowly ahead. Mozambique have one win and two defeats. The table will be decided by the last two days in Abuja, and the meeting of the two unbeaten sides is the one to watch.