Hosts Nigeria began the tournament with a comfortable victory over Sierra Leone at the Tafawa Balewa Square Oval.

Captain Chimezie Onwuzulike starred for the hosts, as the wicketkeeper batsman scored 54 runs.

It helped Nigeria to a score of 165 for six before their bowlers were able to skittle Sierra Leone’s batsman, bowling them out for 77.

The Nigerian team then celebrated a victory over Gambia, achieving a score of 176 for five from their 20 overs.

Gambia lost several wickets in reply, ultimately led to them falling 55 runs short of their target.

Nigeria are joined at the top of the standings by Ghana, who also secured two wins.

They first beat Gambia by 58 runs, having set their opponents a target of 174 to win.

The Ghanaians then set Sierra Leone a target of 141 to win their clash, Simon Ateak top scoring with 57.

Sierra Leone were restricted to 109 runs in response, giving Ghana their second successive victory.

Nigeria and Ghana are due to clash in a top of the table encounter tomorrow, with Gambia and Sierra Leone going head-to-head as they both seek a first win of the competition,

The group stage is set to continue through to Saturday (April 21). 

The top two teams at the end of the event will progress to the African regional final, where they will take on the qualifiers from Group B and C.

They will all seek to claim a spot in the World T20 2020 qualifier, where the teams will take on the winners of the regional finals from Asia, Europe, the Americas and the East Asia and Pacific region.

The main qualifier will take place next year.

Australia are set to host the World T20 from October 15 to November 15 in 2020.

They will be hosting the event for the first time, with 16 teams progressing to the event.

Nine will qualify through the world rankings taken on December 31 this year, with six coming through the qualifying event in 2019.

Australia qualify automatically as the host nation.