NCF President Pledges Good Outing in ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier

The President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Professor Adam Yahaya Ukwenya has assured Nigerians of a good outing as the national cricket team prepares to face regional rivals for T-20 World Cup and African Cup tickets between April 14 and 30, 2018 at the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval in Lagos.

“It is unprecedented in our cricket history for Nigeria to be given hosting rights for two back-to-back qualifying tournaments ICC T20 (April 14-22) and African Cricket Association T20 (April 24-30). Its a measure of confidence on the new board of NCF and Nigeria.

“I believe in the freshness of our national team right now and the very vibrant technical crew spiced up with the inclusion of a Technical Consultant in the person of South African Cricket legend, Makhaya Ntini.

“We are building a team for the future and we have this same level of freshness running through all our national teams”.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) sub-regional T-20 World Cup qualifier will feature the national men’s cricket teams of Ghana, The Gambia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria as the host country while the ACA Qualifier will include two more national teams from Mali and Cameroon.

According to Prof Ukwenya, “I have confidence of great performance from our team at these events and I am more assured of the future of cricket in the coming years.”

The Nigeria Cricket Federation had earlier announced partnership with some corporate organisations including, Eroton Exploration and Production Company, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions and Transport Services Ltd (TSL).

As host state, the Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Sports Commission, is also supporting the NCF in hosting the tournament.

Meanwhile, Captain of the Nigerian national team, Chimezie Onwuzulike, has said that the team is in high spirit and is ready for the task ahead.

“I am very excited about the quality of the players that we have in camp and most especially the atmosphere. This gives us confidence and I believe we would be at our best for the sub-regional qualifiers,” he noted.