Nigeria bounced back from their heavy defeat to Jersey yesterday with a resounding 8-wicket wicket win over Bahrain at Farmers Field, keeping their promotion hopes alive.

Saheed Akolade (6-27 in 8 overs) produced an inspired display of fast bowling to rip through the Bahraini batting line-up, with only three batsmen reaching double figures in a total of 104 in 33 overs. Oluseye Olympio also impressed with ball, returning figures of 3-23 in 10 overs.

Nigeria then knocked off the runs with minimum fuss, opener Segun Olayinka making 50* in 80 balls, including four 4s and a 6, as victory was secured in 28.1 overs.

Nigeria's skipper Adekunle Adegbola said, ‘Saheed's bowling was awesome today and Oluseye did a great job in supporting him. Segun also occupied the crease well and did a good job for the team. Our last game now is against Argentina and there is nothing more or less for us than to be victorious. We're going to give it our best to finish in the top two.'

Bahrain's vice-captain, Anil Hanif, who stood in as skipper today for the injured Yaser Sadeq, said, ‘We weren't up to the mark today. Our shot-selection was poor and this has been our problem throughout the whole tournament. Our bowlers are doing a fantastic job and our fielding is good but our batsmen are continuously making the same mistakes. They're getting set but then throwing their wickets away with rash shots. Credit to Nigeria though, they bowled and fielded well and took some good catches.'

Meanwhile Vanuatu kept themselves in the hunt for promotion with a comprehensive 5-wicket victory over Kuwait at FB Fields.

17-year old Nalin Nipiko, who captains the Vanuatu under-19s side, picked up the man-of-the-match award for his 4-30 in 8 overs as Vanuatu dismissed Kuwait for a mere 107 runs in 24.3 overs. Irfan Bhatti (31 off 37 balls, seven 4s) was only one of three Kuwaitis to reach double figures as Jelany Chilia also chipped in with 3 wickets for only 4 runs in 2.3 overs.

Nipiko (25 off 20 balls, four 4s) then contributed with the bat as he combined with yesterday's centurion Andrew Mansale, who continued his good run of form with an unbeaten 39 from 53 balls, to take Vanuatu to a comfortable win in the 27th over.

Man-of-the-match Nipiko said, ‘I think the boys bowled really well today and we restricted Kuwait to a low total which was comfortable for us to chase down. I was really pleased with my personal performance because the ball was swinging around and I managed to control it well. We're looking forward to the game against Jersey on Saturday and the boys will give it their best.'

Kuwait's vice-captain Kashif Sharif, standing in for the injured Hisham Mirza, said, ‘Our batsmen didn't perform today, similar to previous matches. The playing conditions are very different between here and Kuwait and we're used to playing lots of T20 cricket so it's been difficult adapting to 50 overs. Our bowlers have done well here but our batting has totally flopped.'

Tomorrow is a rest day and Saturday's final round of matches will see Jersey take on Vanuatu at Farmers Field in a top-of-the-table clash, Nigeria meet Argentina in a crunch game at Grainville and Bahrain face Kuwait at FB Fields.

All matches start at 1100 BST.