Cricket: We are ready to host T20i, says NCF president

Uyi Akpata, president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), says the federation has concluded plans to host the maiden women’s invitational T20i tournament at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.

“The ground is taking very good shape and necessary accessories needed for the full running of an event of this magnitude are almost fully in place. But I can say we are very ready,” Akpata said on Sunday.

The competition, which is expected to begin on March 28, will come to an end on April 4, at the same venue where all matches will hold.

The week-long competition would become one of the biggest women’s cricket events in Africa, given the pool of participating countries on parade.

“We are expecting the five other countries joining Nigeria to start arriving on March 26 and we have a number of pre-event formalities that have been scheduled to go on from there until the first ball on March 28,” the NCF president also said.

Akpata said the tournament had enjoyed huge support from corporate Nigeria, especially those with some measure of interest in the gender perspectives that the event would address.

“We would be making a show of our sponsors and partners sometimes during the week and I believe their support at this time has been a huge plus for this tournament,” he said.

The International Cricket Council Africa, which has sanctioned the T20i, would also monitor proceedings from the start to finish, including making each match count for each nation’s ranking.

Four foreign umpires are due to officiate, with two of the participating countries Rwanda and Sierra Leone providing one each, while the other two would come from Kenya and Uganda, both of who are neutral non-participating countries.

They would be joined by four home-based umpires in officiating all the 12 matches of the tournament.

According to Akpata, the T20i tournament is part of the developmental plan of the cricket federation and will be upheld as a yearly event to sustain the growing interest and extraordinary achievements that the NCF has attained with women’s enrollment into the sport in the past few years.

This year, more than 125,000 female cricketers are projected to be recruited through the federation’s nationwide grassroots programme.