Nigeria’s Junior Women’s Yellow-Greens Given Heroes Welcome in Lagos

U19 CRICKET WORLD CUP

Nigeria’s Junior Women’s Yellow-Greens who returned to Lagos on Friday after 23 hours flight from Malaysia were given rousing reception at the Cricket Oval at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos.

The ladies were treated to sumptuous meals and exotic drinks at the reception put together for the gallant players who in their first outing at the U19 Women’s World Cup put Nigeria in global reckoning in cricket.

On arrival at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, the Nigerian ladies were treated to massive celebrations by the ensemble of Supporters Club members put together by the National Sports Commission to welcome them back home.

The Junior Yellow-Greens beat New Zealand by two runs at their first-ever ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup, to seal third place in Super Six Group 2 while the  win against Ireland was enough for a top six finish and also cement a place for Nigeria at the next edition of the tournament in 2027.

Speaking at the reception, President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Uyi Akpata described the girls feat as remarkable and a testament to the developmental programmes of the federation.

“We are really excited by what our girls have done in Malaysia in just their first outing at the U19 World Cup. Even if they could not make it beyond the second round, they have made a loud statement about what we are doing in Nigeria and the potentials that we have to challenge the big Test playing nations,” began Akpata.

He stressed that it all boils down to doing right Investment in developmental programmes. “It shows that when you invest a lot, the results come through, even faster than expected.”

The NCF President admitted that the results from its grassroots programme  is coming much faster than expected.

“Our expectations are just accelerated. It’s three years quicker than we expected to see these girls play like this at the World Cup. We were really targeting 2027 U19 World Cup,” Akpata revealed.

The NCF started its high-performance programme in Benin City two years ago for boys and girls, placing most of those in school on scholarships. That programme and others around are what Nigeria is reaping the profit of Akpata’s vision today.

Related Articles