Cricket: Nigeria continues fine run at West African Trophy
BY Afolabi Gambari
The national men’s cricket team, the Yellow-Greens, have maintained their unblemished record at the ongoing West African Trophy held at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.
The tournament has Ghana, Sierra Leone, Rwanda and host Nigeria taking part in a T20i format game. Ten of the twenty matches billed for play have been completed so far since the event started on October 4.
Nigeria currently leads the pack with ten points from five wins in five matches. Ghana comes second place with six points from three wins in five matches too. Rwanda has four points from two wins, while Sierra Leone has lost all five matches.
The championship will observe its first break on Monday but play resumes on Tuesday with a second tie between Nigeria and Rwanda, while Sierra Leone will be seeking its first win in the second tie with Ghana.
Steve Tikolo, head coach and high-performance manager of Nigeria, said the matches are key for his side ahead of the preparation for the final World Cup qualifier in Namibia later in the year.
“The key thing here is that my team is having playing time and that is important to implement all the drills we have been doing in practice,” Tikolo said.
On his part, Uyi Akpata, president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), said the country’s players’ consistent performances have attracted brand interest, describing the development as encouraging.
“The matches have been streamed seamlessly from the first day,l to millions of fans across the world and this also counts greatly for us as a federation,” Akpata said.
The Yellow-Greens have not had an international encounter in nine months as two international events they had camped for were postponed.
The West African Trophy was put together by the NCF in conjunction with Dafabet and supported by Sparkle, and the Lagos state government.
The competition would be concluded next Sunday when the winners of the two semi-final games would meet.
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