Club Cricket Resumes on Refurbished TBS Oval in Lagos

Cricket action resumed over the weekend at the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval in Lagos as the division one sides of the Club Cricket Committee League in Lagos took turns to eke ranking point.

After early morning rain disrupted Saturday schedules at the over 100 years old turf, It was Rising Stars encounter with Government College Ibadan (GCI) Cricket Club that launched the 10 strips back to life on Sunday

President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, who was on ground along with other enthusiasts of the game said it was exhilarating to watch the games at the TBS and see the usual crowd gradually return.

“This ground has a history with it and among other things it is fulfilling that the traditional home of cricket in the country is now fully a turf. I watched the first match online and the view of the live broadcast on Youtube was beautiful and we can feel the natural bounce and quality of the cricket played is second to none ever played on the ground,” he said.

The GCI side’s task was cut out as they knew they had to just stop the rampaging Stars who before the encounter had gone four wins in four games or face a steeper road to the top of the CCC’s log.

But it was the Asians who won the toss and decided to chase, and it did not take them long before they started to make in roads into the GCI batting line up. It went from 33-2 to 54-5 and it was looking like the GCI batters were still trying to adjust to the new surface. And so they huffed and puffed till the 120th ball, closing on 111-6.

During the Stars’ innings, they braved up and gave the GCI a chase, putting up 37 runs before the first wicket fell. They carried on with that until the fifth wicket fell and GCI went on a spree. From 101-4, they took five more in succession to choke the Asians to 111-9, but Rising Stars crawled over the victory line with 2 balls remaining. A win by 1 wicket saw them rising above GCI into 2nd place, behind league leaders; Ibeju Lekki Cricket Club.

Chairman of the CCC League, Akin Denton, said apart from the encounter being a crunchy tie, the feel of the newly commissioned TBS turf raised the quality of play and he is glad the board of the Nigeria Cricket Federation gave the nod for the elite division to return to TBS.

“The CCC league has an enviable pedigree on the Sub-Sahara Africa and this adds to its credentials, the turf wicket will help us have more of our national players acclimatize and shape up well for international encounters before they come.” He added.

In the second encounter, Lagos Asian Cricket Club, LACC squared up with Government College Ughelli (GCU) Cricket Club

LACC came into their encounter looking for a second win of the season. GCU was not going to just hand it to them as they were looking for a third win themselves.

A quick loss of 2 wickets in 2 overs from LACC jolted the GCU team back to reality. Then they lost 3rd in the 4th over and a 5th in the 6th over. Itua Lucky dropped the anchor and as the team batted around him, he made sure he helped his team (with contribution from Olumide Adeniran) to a decent total of 120-7 in 20 overs.

LACC seem a bit more determined when their innings got off, with the opening pair putting up 37 before Afroz Alam nicked one to the ‘keeper off Destiny Chilemanya’s bowling. Once that partnership was gone, their batting frailties started to show again as their entire middle order failed to respond as they should to the firepower of the GCU attack. It was GCU winning by 10 runs at 110-7.