By IJEOMA OKIGBO

Nigeria U19 Women are through to the Super Six stage of the International Cricket Council (ICC) U19 Women?s T20 World Cup in spite losing to South Africa by 41 runs following Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method.

Nigeria came into the final group C game with three points while South Africa were four points, both after two games.

The match at the Borneo Cricket Ground in Sarawak was a decider on who tops the group, but it was South Africa who finished the group stage unscathed.

Nigeria won the toss and elected to field. They had a good start with the ball but was unable to break the opening partnership of South Africa?s Simone Lourens and Jemma Botha.

Not until Captian Piety Lucky brought herself in with the ball and dislodged the wickets of Lourens before rain interrupted play.

After the downpour, ICC match officials decided the game will be reduced to eight overs per side with DLS setting a target of 66 to win though South Africa finished 49/2 on the scoreboard

In the chase, Nigeria rarely got going with the bat. South Africa delivered a spectacular bowling and fielding performance to limit Nigeria to 24/8 in their allotted 8 overs.

South Africa won by 41 runs.

Nigeria will face England on Saturday in the first Super Six clash before meeting Ireland on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the DLS method is a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score (number of runs needed to win) for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances. (NAN)

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