Cricket: Nigeria U-19 teams ready for W’Cup qualifiers

The Nigeria Cricket Federation is hopeful that the national U-19 teams (boys and girls), will pick their respective World Cup tickets as they begin their qualifiers on July 31 and August 19.

According to the General Manager of the federation, Emeka Igwilo, the boys’ team is billed for Tanzania this week. Where they hope to pick one of the two tickets at stake in the U-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, African Qualifier Division 2.

“Our performance at this stage in 2019 gave us the first World Cup ticket and hence this stage has always put us in the spotlight since then. We are banking on the experience of the coaching staff and hard work to scale the next stage,” he said.

Igwilo said the board had re-appointed the coach of the men’s U19 team, Daniel Gim, and hopes he will build on his experience to deliver results for the country.

“The team has been camping for weeks, and we are hoping this will count for the team for their tournaments that run from July 31 to August 14 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,” Igwilo added.

Their female counterpart, the U-19 women’s team, who are parading about eight members of the national female team is scheduled for a one-level World Cup Qualifier in Kigali, Rwanda from August 19 to 31.

Igwilo says apart from a new technical team handling the teenagers, he believes that the team parading some experienced players – who helped the country secure the African Games bronze medal in Accra, Ghana, raises hope of performing well during the event.

“These youngsters represent the future of the game in Nigeria. The board prioritises grassroots engagement across the country and we know that if the game must our progress investment in the pockets of developmental activities that produced them, along with facility development and continuous upskilling our staff must continue.”

The Senior Men’s national team also just completed a bilateral encounter with Kenya where they feature in five T20 games and Two 50 overs. They lost 3-2 in the T20 series and lost all 50-over encounters.

“The Nigerian teams have been busy shaping up for the quarters ahead. And we are happy at the lessons we are picking up and the adjustments they are opening us to.” He said.

The Senior men’s national team will feature in a Division 2 World Cup Qualifier to be hosted in the country later in November.