Cricket: Kenya Series learning curve for Nigeria, says Tikolo

Head coach of Nigeria’s male senior cricket team and high-performance manager of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Steve Tikolo, says the recently concluded Kenya-Nigeria bilateral series has provided the Yellow Greens valuable experience and an opportunity for the side to gain exposure and display their potential, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Nigeria faced Kenya in five T20 games and another two 50-over matches, with the Simbas asserting dominance in both formats.

Kenya started the series strongly, clinching victories in the first two T20 matches. Their bowlers and batsmen worked in tandem to secure a commanding lead, leaving Nigeria’s Yellow Greens struggling to find their footing.

However, the Yellow Greens demonstrated resilience and bounced back in the third and fourth T20 games. Nigeria’s players showed remarkable improvement, with their batsmen posting competitive totals and their bowlers effectively restricting Kenya’s chase. These victories levelled the T20 series at 2-2, setting the stage for a thrilling decider.

In the decisive fifth T20 match, Kenya edged Nigeria to win the T20 series 3-2 before dominating the two 50-over matches, thus ending the seven-match series 5-2.

Despite the result, Tikolo, a former Kenya international, believes the Yellow Greens will come good.

“The Kenya series was more of a learning curve for the team. Given that we were playing a team ranked higher than us, the boys did fairly well in the T20 series. In the final match of the T20 series, we were in a very good position to win and take the series, but a few errors in the field caused us the match and the series,” Tikolo told our correspondent.

There is so much to learn from this series going forward, but at the same time, there were so many positives on our side. The cricket fraternity in Kenya was impressed by the brand of cricket our team displayed—a positive and fearless brand of cricket. They were surprised to see Nigeria play this brand of cricket, and many felt there was a huge improvement in Nigerian cricket.

“The batting and fielding were top notch while we weren’t at our best in the bowling department. This was due to injuries picked up early in the series by two of our most prolific bowlers, Prosper Useni and Peter Aho. This depleted the bowling department to some extent, but all in all, happy with the way the team played in the T20 series.

“We didn’t give any good performances in the ODI matches, but all is not doom and gloom. I believe the team can improve and become a good team in this format if we start playing the 50-over format in our domestic structure/leagues.”

According to the coach, the players will keep working ahead of the first phase of the 2026 T20 World Cup qualifiers, which the country will host in November.