THE Nigerian national Under-19 team, which defeated Sierra Leone by four wickets at the on-going Pepsi ICC-Africa U-19 World Cup qualifying series in Uganda, suffered another setback yesterday when they lost to Kenya in their third match by 142 runs.

The team had lost to Botswana by 65 runs in their opening game on Sunday, defeated Sierra Leone on Monday before getting this reverse result yesterday.

In their first Pool B match against Botswana on Sunday, the Southern Africans won the toss and opted to bat posting a modest 195 for 10 in 50 overs, beating Nigeria 130 for nine in 50 overs by 65 runs.

Huzaifa Babar top scored with 48 runs that included five boundary fours in 68 balls. Ameer Saiyed and Amir Mehraj came in handy with 39 and 35 respectively each with three boundary fours apiece.

Nigeria’s bowling attack had Alfred Tajay three for 15 in 10 overs and Joseph Adedeji three for 36 in nine overs as the best bowling figures.

Botswana, led by Man of Match, Aarnav Ram three for 11 in 10 came hard on Nigeria, restricting them to 130 for nine in 50 overs. Botswana’s opening bowlers partnered to wipe out the top batsmen leaving them at six for 39 in 19.4 at one time. Thatayaone Tshoshe returned figures of two for 31 in nine overs.

Batting at eight, Bimbo Adu stuck at the wicket securing 40 off 89 balls while Adedayo Ogunbayo came in handy with 20 off 59 balls.

Meanwhile, Namibia posted the qualifier’s highest score of 334 runs for seven wickets in 50 overs en route to a 244-run Duckworth and Lewis Method win in a rain-shortened Pool A game against Tanzania at the University Oval in Kyambogo.

A second wicket partnership of 161 runs that lasted 29.3 overs between Xander Pitchers and Michau Du Preez was the highlight of the encounter.

Man of match, Pitchers, finished on 161 off 143 balls, peppering the boundary rope with 16 fours and 3 sixes in the process.

Stylish Michau Du Preez was also among the runs with 61 off 90 whereas captain Gerhard Erasmus, who only stepped onto the crease after 36.3, didn’t miss out on the carnage with 30-ball 51 runs that comprised of two boundaries and four mighty blows out of the park.

Only Kenswa Omala (3/46) stood out from the bewildered Zambian attack.

More salt was rubbed onto Zambians’ wounds when rain forced the match officials to reduce the 50-over clash to 40 with a revised target of 292. Namibian bowlers Kobus Brand four for nine in three, Janu Coetzee 2/3 in two and Jj Smit two for nine in five skittled through the Central Africans’ batting line-up.