Nigeria Arrive in Rwanda to Defend African Under-19 Cricket Title

The Junior Yellow-Greens, Nigeria’s Under-19 Cricket team are in Kigali, the Rwandan capital to begin the defense of the title that earned the country her first Cricket World Cup appearance.

The Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), in a statement, said the team flew in from Zimbabwe where they had been on a 10-day pre-tournament tour in preparation for the championship.

It said the winners of the event would pick the last available ticket for the continent to the ICC U-19 Cricket Championship in 2022.

According to NCF, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and hosts Rwanda would compete in the eight-day tournament which begins on Thursday.

Nigeria’s coach, Uthe Ogbimi, according to the statement, said he was optimistic about their chances, adding that the team was well prepared and would be take it one game at a time.

“We are going to this ICC Under-19 Africa World Qualifiers as the defending champions and that puts a lot of attention on us. We know that. But our plan is to take every game on their merit.

“Our most important game is our next game and we are primed to give our best to every game. No team at this event is ordinary and we hope to treat everyone with such respect,” he said.

Nigeria’s opening match at the event is billed for Friday against hosts Rwanda, before taking on Tanzania on Sunday.

The Junior Yellow Greens will face Uganda on Monday before closing the event against Namibia on Wednesday.

The Junior Yellow-Greens is captained by Boniface Oche. Other team members include; Prosper Useni, Ridwanulahi Mohammed, Victor Ipoli, Destiny Chilemanya, Nzube Nwokike, Ridwan Kareem, Lukman Kofoworola, Joshua Sunday, Talabi Odunayo, Paul Pam, Huzaifa Abdulsalam, Theophilus Jeremiah, Isaac Onyemgba, Udekwe Chiemelie, and Elochukwu Ndubudem.

Nigeria’s opening match at the event is on Friday, October 1st against host Rwanda before taking Tanzania on Sunday, October 3rd. Uganda’s encounter is set for Monday 4th before closing the event on a high against Namibia on Wednesday 6^th

Winners of the qualifying series will take up the African spot at the 2022 U-19 Cricket World Cup scheduled for West Indies.

South Africa and Zimbabwe have already booked spots at the event, along with 13 other teams across the world.

September 28, 2021