ICC Lauds Nigeria For Staging Criio Women Festival

International Cricket Council (ICC) has applauded Nigeria for hosting the inaugural Criio Women Festival in Abuja.

The event, put together to increase women participation in the game of cricket was held on Friday at the cricket oval, Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja. It saw no fewer than 400 girls drawn from 17 secondary schools adopting the sport with fun.

At the event, ICC women’s cricket officer, Amna Rafiq, expressed satisfaction over the successful launch of the inaugural Criio Women’s Cricket Festival, saying Nigeria had huge potential to be among the best nations in the world.

According to her, Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) had launched its Women’s Cricket Festival, which she said was part of a pilot that the ICC is doing with 10 of the members

“And it’s so great to see so many women and girls out here trying cricket, picking up a baton ball for the first time for the majority of them. And just simply having fun, and that’s really good to see.

“We’ve heard from data and research that women are not picking up a baton ball, and that’s what we’re out here to do. We’re on a mission.

“By 2029, NCF has a plan to get a million women and girls playing the game. So, yeah, it’s a really exciting

“These young girls here today are a bit of a pathway to see and aspire to be at a future World Cup, so far, Nigeria has huge potential to be among the best countries in the world,” she said.

The Leicestershire’s award-winning community officer, Amna Rafiq, however, assured that ICC will do everything possible to provides needed equipment for member nations that will further grow the games of Cricket in the world.

NCF president Uyi Akpata, while speaking after the event, said the objective of creating more awareness for the game has been achieved.

He said, “The festival exceeded the federation expectation, it met its purpose because if you look around, you will see that there is the right atmosphere for girls to enjoy the game of cricket.

“We are going to do more with the backing of the FCT Education Board. We just need to go out there and make cricket the most popular game in FCT and to the rest of Nigeria He promised.

Criio festival is a unique way to play cricket, inviting people from all walks of life to engage with the sport on their own terms.