Ayannaike named Nigeria’s cricket team captain
Eight teams will be on parade from Monday when the umpire calls play for the National Cricket Men’s Championship at the Edo Boys High School, Cricket High-Performance Center in Benin city.
Speaking on the development, Yahaya Ukwenya, president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, said the 10-day championship is a key event on the federation’s calendar, due to the international engagement that the country is committed to later in the year.
“This national men’s championship is the first on the list of activities that will form the molding of a stronger national team both for the Under-19 and more importantly the senior men’s team,” Ukwenya said.
“We have three World Cup tickets to vie for this year, hoping that the tides of Covid-19 pandemic will be continuously stemmed as it is being done now. The Under 19 World Cup, The Senior Men’s T-20 World and the Women’s World Cup Qualifier.”
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Lagos, Edo, Anambra and Kwara are drawn in pool A that will open the championship on Monday while pool B would have Kaduna, Rivers, Delta and Oyo states competing.
Endurance Ofem, who is the player’s representative on the board of the Nigeria Cricket Federation and tournament coordinator, corroborated Ukwenya’s assertion that the event would be the first test for any player willing to pick a shirt in the national team later in the year.
“This event is very crucial to future engagements both locally and internationally. We have provided the best condition for the top teams to thrive and we believe the venue too will help us better in allowing the players express their latent talent as well,” Ofem said.
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Sri-Lankan Asanka Gurusinha, who is the national coach, and his Nigerian assistants will watch the event with a view to extending trial invites to deserving players for the senior national team he has been building since last year.
The first ball on Monday will be bowled in a promising tie between seeded Lagos and hard-fighting Anambra while the second match of the day will feature host Edo and Kwara.
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