Women’s U-19 cricket W/Cup: Nigeria miss out on semi-final slot despite defeating Ireland

The Junior female Yellow-Greens of Nigeria defeated Ireland by six runs at the ongoing 2025 ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia.

Despite the win, the match was Nigeria’s last at the competition as the team narrowly missed out on a semi-final slot.

The Junior female Yellow-Greens finished third best team in the Super Six Group 2, just one point below the qualification spot.

Nigeria’s nervy victory over Ireland on Wednesday completed the country’s fairy tale outing at the maiden World Cup.

Lilian Ude’s three wicked streaks also won her the player of the match to set up the second victory over the ICC test national after beating New Zealand in the event.

Lucky Piety, Yellow-Greens’ captain, said the rain-washed outing against England on January 25, which led both teams to share points, cost her team the semi-finals ticket.

“I think we stood a good chance of beating England on Saturday because we were highly motivated and were already possessing the edge but the rains stopped us,” Piety said.

“All the same, I think we haven’t had a bad tournament and myself and my teammates have accepted this first outing as a learning process in our development and we can only grow from here,” she also said.

Uyi Akpata, President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), is delighted with the players’ performance and encourages the federation to motivate the team further.

“It’s hard to think they are on a maiden outing here in Malaysia and I am really impressed with how they have turned out,” Akpata said.

Due to the team’s performance, Nigeria have automatically qualified for the 2027 Under-19 Women’s World Cup, which Bangladesh and Nepal will host.