The Nigerian season kicked off on November 1 with the traditional match between the winners of the National Club Championships, Ibejju Lekki, who clinched the title for the second year running, and a Nigeria Cricket Federation Select XI at the Tafewa Balewa Square in Lagos. The Lagos League will follow on November 7 where 14 clubs will play in limited-overs style coloured kits and white balls for the first time.

The Lagos League is in fact one of the four leagues in Nigeria. The Edo League, comprising four clubs, is in the south-south region of the country and is also expected to start sometime this month.

The North-West League and the Eastern Leagues are scheduled for early 2010 as they help in picking the regional qualifiers for the National Cricket Club Championships, normally played from April to June. The National Cricket Club Championships finals would also be played in coloured clothing and white balls.

Another important step in the development of the game in the country is the second National Secondary Schools Championships sponsored by DUFIL Prima. The tournament is expected to start in November-December with the finals slated for April. Sixty schools participated in the 2008-09 pioneer edition.

A turf wicket, the first in Nigeria, will also be constructed in Abeokuta, Ogun State with the help of a Cricket Kenya curator. It is expected the wicket would be in place by the end of 2009 latest.

At the regional level, there there is also a regional Under-18 boys tournament scheduled for April 2010 in Ghana and an Under-13 boys tournament in Gambia in December 2010. An allrounders' academy featuring the top two allrounders from Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Cameroon and Mali is also in the offing.

Tony Munro

The next North West African Championships have been delayed to April 2010 due to the global financial crisis.

The economic downturn may also see the tournament restricted to its traditional participants, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, said the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Kwesi Sagoe.

"It is likely that a review of participants would be undertaken given the cost of the event and the relative development standard of each of the North-West African countries. No decision has however been made on this yet," Sagoe told Cricinfo.

In recent years, Morocco and Mali have taken part with Mali experiencing some heavy defeats. At one stage, following the change of the tournament's name to the "North West African Championships", Egypt and Libya had been mentioned as possible future participants.

Africa needs to look hard at itself and ask this question: why are there only two teams from the continent going to New Zealand for the Under-19s World Cup in January? And of the two, no-one can ever be too sure about Zimbabwe.

No non-Test nation (apart, now, from Zimbabwe) has made it through from Africa; whereas Asia will have six representatives (two non-Test sides), the Americas and Caribbean three (two non-Test nations), the Antipodes three (Australia, New Zealand and non-Test Papua New Guinea), and Europe two (one non-Test).

Continue reading "Africa at the crossroads"

Adewale Adeoye, Nigeria captain

	Nigeria celebrate the win over Japan © ICC Cricket-Europe

Cricket in Nigeria has a limited profile and we certainly don’t have the popularity of some of the major sports in the country such as football, basketball and athletics.

We do have a 15-minute highlights programme on our domestic league each week during the season, but that is not much in comparison to some of the other sports.

I started playing the game when I was 13 – I had never even seen it played before, but I really enjoyed it, and I am very proud to be the Nigeria captain.

We are all excited about being part of the World Cricket League and we are determined to progress as far as we can in the competition, so it was great that we managed to win our first match against Japan.

It was very disappointing that we had a delay with our visas, which has really affected our preparations for the tournament. We had planned to have a two-week tour of the UK, before coming to Guernsey, but in the end we only ended up arriving on the island the day before the tournament started.

It has been particularly difficult to acclimatise to the weather and get used to the pitches. The conditions in Nigeria were tropical, so the temperature in Guernsey has felt freezing to us. Quite a few of the team have caught colds and suffered from muscle pulls, so the real challenge is trying to keep yourself warm in the field at all times by running on the spot.

In Tuesday’s game against Suriname we dropped nine catches and I think it was mainly because of the bad weather. It feels like a completely different ball when you are trying to catch it here in comparison to back at home.

Our focus is now on trying to win our remaining three group games and finishing in the top two at the tournament so we can win promotion to Division 6 in Singapore.

Whatever happens, I think the future for cricket in Nigeria is bright. We have some good administrative structures in place, there are plenty of people who are passionate about the game and I am confident that we can climb the cricketing ladder.

The opening day of the ICC World Cricket League Division 7 tournament in Guernsey was almost entirely washed out by persistent rain.

Two matches did get underway before being abandoned - Bahrain were wobbling on 52 for 4 against Gibraltar and Japan were 28 for 1 against Guernsey. The game between Suriname and Nigeria did not even get started.

Tuesday is scheduled to be a rest day and it is possible the organisers might replay today’s matches then.

Nigeria’s participation in the ICC World Cricket League Division 7 tournament, which takes place in Guernsey from May 17, was in the lap of the gods after it was revealed that players were struggling to obtain visas to enter the UK.

Speaking to Cricket Europe, Endurance Ofem, the side’s 16-year-old wicketkeeper, said that the British High Commission had not processed applications for visas. “As things stand now, realistically, we might not be making the UK tour but we can only hope that the embassy releases our passports with visas. The players are disappointed at the British High Commission but remain focused for the job at hand.”

Sierra Leone continue to surprise opponents and followers of the Africa Under-19 Championship in topping the table. After the fifth day they are joint-first with Namibia on eight points, but with a superior net run-rate, thanks to another win over Zambia by 85 runs. Chasing 177 Zambia were skittled for 91 with Ibrahim Kabia picking up 3 for 8. Elsewhere, Namibia thrashed Nigeria by ten wickets while Kenya – who are in a disappointing fourth position – beat Tanzania by 19 runs. Uganda pulled off a thrilling one-wicket win over Botswana when they rather underestimated their target of 114, losing nine wickets – three of them to Waseem Tajbhai. Their last pair saw them across the line, however, with overs (if not nerves) to spare.

---- Points table ----
1. Sierra Leone (8 points, NRR: 1.03)
2. Namibia (8, 0.87)
3. Uganda (6, -0.56)
4. Kenya (6, 0.10)
5. Zambia (4, -0.12)
6. Botswana (4, -0.44)
7. Tanzania (2, -0.39)
8. Nigeria (0, -2.02)

Tunde Akinleye

The Iris Smart Technologies CCC Lagos League 2008-09 in Nigeria has finally drawn to a close with some interesting matches at the end. GCI Old Boys Cricket Club (GCIOB) came back strongly in the second half in Division 1 to qualify for the Super 4 Tournament. The rivalry between Ibeju-Lekki Cricket Club (ILCC) and Ogun Rocks Cricket (Rocks) persisted but Rocks finished rather weakly, leaving ILCC to top the league with a 12-point margin.

At the end of the league matches, the top four teams qualify for a knock-out tournament, the Super 4 Cup. In Division 2, the top four teams engage in a round-robin tournament.

This year the four teams that qualified for the Division 1 Super 4 Tournament were ILCC, Rocks, GCIOB and Howzat Pioneers (HZP). Foundation Cricket Club (FCC) were not able to sustain their past glory and finished fifth. Lagos-Asians Cricket Club (LACC) came last and will be relegated to Division 2 next season.

In the Super 4 Tournament, the rivalry between ILCC and Rocks continued as they met in a close and enthralling encounter to determine which one of them qualifies for the final. GCIOB faced up to HZP. ILCC again triumphed over Rocks whilst GCIOB saw off a close challenge from HZP which was affected by weather. ILCC and GCIOB qualified to meet in the final which traditionally marks the end of the Iris Smart Technologies CCC League season with presentations being made at the post-match event.

Continue reading "Ibeju-Lekki confirm Lagos league dominance with Super 4 title"

Tony Munro

Nigeria will hold a two-week pre-tournament training camp in London ahead of next month's World Cricket League Division Seven tournament in Guernsey.

They will play two games against Ghana in Accra next week before travelling to the UK to play five matches against various London-based teams during the camp which will run from April 30 to May 14.

The other teams in Division Seven, which will be played from May 17 to 24 are Guernsey, Gibraltar, Bahrain, Japan and Suriname.

Meanwhile, Wale Adeoye who led Nigeria to second place at last year's WCL Africa Division Two tournament, has been retained as captain while there are only two minor changes to the squad - Ademola Onikoyi replaces Uthe Ogbimi and Saheed Akolade comes in for Dolapo Gafar.

The rest of the squad is: Endurance Ofem, Kunle Adegbola, Joshua Agunlola, Haruna Thomas, Tope Olayinka, Demola Onikoyi, Lekan Awolowo, Jide Bejide, Segun Olayinka, Emmanuel Okwudili, Chimezie Onwuzulike, Seye Olympio; Coach - Ewa Henshaw.

Nigeria's itinerary in London is: May 2 v Old Thorntonians; May 3 v Gary Palmer's Academy in Oxford; May 4 v Surrey Championship XI; May 10 v Free Foresters at Spencer; May 13 v Combined Services at Aldershot.

Lagos have beaten defending champions Gateway by 30 runs to win the Nigerian club title at the superbly named Crocodile Cricket Club.

Lagos won the toss and made 197 for 6 in their allotted 30 overs, with Olayemi Amusa leading the way with 50 from 54 balls. Gateway made a good start, Rotimi Adesanya smashing 61 off 49 balls, but fell away and were bowled out for 167.

Click here for a fuller report

Officials from the ICC’s academy – based in Dubai Sports City – have welcomed a team of developing cricketers from Nigeria.

The Howzat Pioneers touring team recently met with senior management and were given a taste of the coaching and development programs that will be available to visiting teams. The ICC Global Cricket Academy will provide a unique environment for coaching, game education and training in outstanding facilities with some of the games best coaches.

“The ICC Global Cricket Academy will be an important asset for emerging countries like Nigeria to learn new skills and develop the game within their country,” said General Manager Marc Archer. “Our coaches, led by former Australia and England academies coach Rod Marsh, will offer a variety of coaching programs to help raise the game standards of all of the 104 ICC members.”

The Pioneers are a private under-19 club side set up by the Howzat Foundation for Cricket to help raise interest in the game.

“The ICC Global Cricket Academy will be very important for countries like Nigeria.” said Dr. John Abebe the Chairman of the foundation. “Nigeria will benefit greatly from the programs available for groundsmen, coaches, administrators, umpires and, most importantly, the players themselves.”

The ICC Global Cricket Academy has two international-standard ovals with pitches constructed from clay imported from Pakistan and Australia to replicate playing conditions around the world.

Players and coaches will also be able to take advantage of the advanced technology developed to help diagnose and rectify problems with batting and bowling styles. The ICC Global Cricket Academy’s indoor facility will house seven indoor practice nets, fielding area, video analysis area, recovery room, gymnasium and spectator viewing area.

Jon Barber

Tunde Akinleye

The Lagos League 2008-09 season in Nigeria commenced in November with some intriguing contests. First, Federal Government College Warri CC (FGCW) emerged with an exciting squad including the likes of Roland Ilube (ex-national team & London Nigerians CC of London), Femi Olayiwole, Oboh Omoigui, Ameh Edebor (all ex-Cosmo players).

Rocks CC are now back in Division 1 with their mature but relatively young team who have been playing together for a while now. Ibeju-Lekki CC (ILCC) have introduced a second team to the league competing in Division II and who expect to be challenging for the title.

The grand old warriors, Foundation CC (FCC), lost most of their younger players to other teams and their registration list for this season features an array of veterans, quite a few of whom had hung up their boots a few years ago. The champions for last season, Lagos Asians CC commenced training several weeks ahead of the start of the season to demonstrate their serious intention to retain the championship.

There was a significant change to the points system for the League standing. In recognition of the standard of play having improved significantly and following calls to de-emphasise individual performances as recognized by the old performance-rewarding points system and also to fall in line with global practice, the points reward system was restructured to award 4 points for wins and a bonus point if the win was achieved with a specified margin.

With the foregoing, the picture that emerged is one of Rocks CC, Government College Ibadan OB CC (GCIOB) and Lagos Asians CC (LACC) challenging strongly for the championships whilst everyone pondered whether the heavens would fall if FCC were relegated to Division II.

Despite some delays, resulting from scheduling conflicts over the use of the grounds, the league matches commenced mid-November and after 4 rounds the league tables reflect the total unpredictability of cricket.

Whilst Rocks CC are currently heading the Division 1 league table having won all their matches so far, FCC have demonstrated great resilience by giving Rocks CC a great run for their money during their match and are currently in second place while ILCC are third-placed. LACC are currently placed fourth whilst GCIOB CC are placed fifth with Pioneers CC at the bottom of the league.

In Division II which now has 8 teams with the introduction of the Nigerian Cricket Federation (NCF) U-19 and the ILCC B teams, FGCW have emerged top contenders for the Division II title and currently top the league having secured bonus points in all their matches played to date. The experience and skills of the new additions to their squad is manifesting and has given them a significant edge over other teams.

Indo-Pakistan CC are second-placed with ILCC B coming third. British International School (BIS) CC the “United Nations” of the league has started well compared to previous seasons and is currently placed fourth in Division II.

Unilag CC, Ibadan Metro CC, Howzat Dolphins CC and NCF U-19 CC make up the rest of Division II and whilst quite a few of their matches are outstanding due to late registration of NCF U-19 CC, the Division II battle promises to be just as exciting with each of these teams believing they have a fair chance to challenge for the title and return to Division I next season. Time and Cricket will tell!

The Lagos First Division ladder as at 14.12.08 was: Rocks CC 14, Foundation CC 9, Ibeju Lekki CC 9, Lagos Asians CC 4, Government College Ibadan Old Boys, Pioneers 0
POINTS TABLE - as at 14/12/08

Next week's ICC annual get-together promises to have more than its fair share of politicking, posturing and controversy. But, unless there is a major about-turn, it should also be a watershed for the Associates and Affiliates.

In 2009, income from the ICC's six-year media deal with ESPN-Star, worth over US$1 billion, kicks in, and while the game's big boys will still keep the lion's share, the rest will see substantial increases in their incomes.

Continue reading "Future bright beyond the Test world"

Rocks Cricket Club of Abeokuta has won the maiden edition of the GTA 20/20 tournament. The champions defeated Foundation Cricket Club of Lagos on Sunday, April 27 at Lagos’s TBS Cricket Oval by 23 runs to clinch the trophy.

Continue reading "Rocks win Nigeria's Twenty20 title"

Nigeria have won the second North West African Championships following a narrow one-wicket win over their arch-rivals, Sierra Leone, in the final match of the five-nation tournament in Lagos on Thursday.

Endurance Ofem, named Player of the Series, guided Nigeria home with 39 as Nigeria overhauled Sierra Leone's 142, despite Lansana Lamin's 4 for 20 from his 10 overs. Ofem also scored the tournament's only century.

Hopes the tournament will expand past its British Commonwealth roots were dashed for this year by the withdrawal of Cameroon and Morocco. Eventually it is intended to include Egypt and Libya.

It was a typical tournament of West African national teams with the usual finishing order of Nigeria first, Sierra Leone second, Ghana finishing third and Gambia fourth.

Mali, the former French colony, was the fifth team, clearly still in its learning phase, with team totals of 12, 24, 151 and 15.

Tony Munro

The Cricket Tour of Nigeria by London Nigerians Cricket Club (LNCC) tagged "Beyond the Boundary" ended on Sunday, March 30 at the Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval with thrills. The tour which took them from Lagos to Abuja and back to Lagos was very successful and memorable for the tourists. This was the third tour of the club since the maiden one in 2000. The second tour was in 2006. The tour has been organized by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF). Nigeria also held a press conference in which the NCF President welcomed all Guests and Members of the Press to the official unveiling of the North West Africa Cricket Championship (NWACC) Logo. Mr. Albert Okumagba, MD/CEO of BGL was called upon to perform the unveiling of the NWACC logo. The NWACC will be hosted by Nigeria at three venues, TBS, University of Lagos both in Lagos and MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta.

From 1st to 11th April, 2008, Nigeria will host the 2nd NWACC tournament and the NCF is determined to increase the profile of the sport in the country. The NCF President mentioned that he is pleased to advise that the ACA is particularly delighted with their progress administratively in the last two years and is ready to assist in transferring that success to the field of play so that they can qualify for better levels of funding from the ICC.

GTA 20/20 CRICKET TOURNEY: ROCKS CC & FCC FOR FINAL

On Sunday, March 16, the Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval was set on fire with the sound of willow on leather as the semi-final matches of the maiden edition of GTA 20/20 Cricket Tournament lived up to the expectations of cricket enthusiasts.

In the first semi-final match played between Rocks CC of Abeokuta and Howzat Pioneers CC of Lagos, Rocks won by 3 wickets to secure a ticket for the final. Pioneers scratched all the way throughout their innings to score 102 runs for 8 wickets. Rocks won the game in the 13th over. Niyi Adegbola (35*) and Joshua Ogunlola (26).

In the second semi-final match played at the same venue, hard fighting Foundation Cricket Club proved all wrong when they chased the 197 runs scored by the Lagos Asians CC and beat the target in the last over for the loss of 6 wickets. It was a really explosive encounter as a total of 15 sixes were scored by both sides.

Top scorers for the Lagos Asians were Changrani (45), Giu (67), Chamrani (31) and Amjadi (23) while for Foundation CC were Dolapo Gafar (36),Femi Oduyebo (65), Tayo Atoloye (34), Wale Adeoye (21) and Oris Oruye (18*).

Mr. Tosin Runsewe, the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Assurance who witnessed the exciting and explosive encounters was pleased with the standard of play and the level of organization of the tournament and pledged that his organization will continue to support the 20/20 series.

The final match is set to take place on Sunday, April 27, 2008 at the Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval.

The number of people actively participating in cricket outside the Test-playing countries increased 17% in 2007, according to the ICC.

The research, carried out by the ICC's development program, was collated from 33 Associate and 58 Affiliate members. It showed that there were 338,051 male and female players in those countries in 2007, an increase of 49,158 on the previous year. Since 2002, when there were 144,047 participants, there has been a 135% rise.

Click here for the full story.

Although sport in Nigeria is dominated by football, cricket is growing in popularity which will please everyone who is trying to spread the game through Africa. In an interview with Punch, a major Nigerian newspaper, Kwesi Sagoe, the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, talks about his hopes of taking the game further.

I do not agree that cricket is elitist; not in the light that you have portrayed it. Cricket as a sport has been played in Nigerian schools for many years. You could say that the media attention has not been favourable to the sport and that probably would have accounted for the notion that it‘s elitist. Also, the fact that the sport has not commanded a nation-wide participation, as football does, has made it a rather southern affair. But if you observe objectively, you will discover that it is very popular in the southern part of the country. The popularity is growing as I speak and I believe that with time, it will spread across the country.

Nigeria's season begins on October 7 this year, a couple of weeks earlier than usual due to a packed schedule.

Nigeria's Cricket new season will kick off on Oct. 7, according to the president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF).

Kwesi Sagoe said the federation has decided to begin the 2007/2008 season earlier than previous years because of a very tight schedule in the coming months which will see several local competitions that include the Iris Smart Technologies (CCC) League and the Super Four.

Sagoe said apart from the tight domestic schedule, Nigeria will be hosting the Second North/West African Cricket Tournament sometime in April or May next year, Lagos-based the Guardian reported Wednesday.

The Nigerian Cricket Association has applied for a special grant from the African Cricket Association to help expand the game.

"We intend to develop at least two turf wickets in the country," NCA president Kwesi Sagoe said. "The absence of the facility has held down our game for too long.

"There are a number of other countries also queuing for grants from ACA for different purposes. Ours is to develop grass wickets.”

The Nigerian Cricket Association has brought forward the start of the new season because of the hectic schedule facing it.

NCA president Kwesi Sagoe said the season would start on October 7 and flagged the Club Cricket Committee League, the Super Four and the proposed Twenty20 tournament among competitions which will be run.

He said in addition to the tight domestic schedule, Nigeria will be hosting the Second North/West African Cricket Tournament in April or May 2008, and will participate in an Under-15 tournament in Gambia and another Under-13 tournament in Ghana.

Botswana produced the shock of the Africa Under-19 World Cup Qualifiers when they Uganda by 27 runs to reach the semi-finals in Benoni on Monday.

Botswana's unexpected victory eliminated Tanzania from the semi-final on net run-rate after the duo along with Uganda ended up at four points each from three matches. In Wednesday's semi-finals, Uganda meets Namibia while Kenya faces Botswana. Kenya topped Pool One after conjuring up a four-wicket victory over Zambia while Namibia finished second after defeating Ghana by 172 runs, courtesy of an unbeaten century by Sean Silver.

In the Botswana-Uganda match, Botswana scored 192 for 8 after being put into bat with contributions from Karan Kapoor (54) and Nadeem Tajbhay (36) while Emmanuel Nakaana bagged 3 for 45. In turn, Uganda was dismissed for 165 in 44 overs after losing their last seven wickets for 54.

Tanzania, in their last match, carved out a 153-run victory over Nigeria. Athumani Kakonzi (70) and Seif Abdul (68) put on 123 for the second wicket to set the platform for Tanzania's 296 in 49.5 overs. Nigeria, in its target chase, were bowled out for 143.

Silver scored 101 to inspire Namibia to a 172-run victory over Ghana and featured in a 117-run second wicket partnership with Tiaan Louw (62) as Namibia scored 287 for 6. Ghana were dismissed for 115 with Elandre Oosthuizen taking 4 for 39 and Louis Petrus van der Westhuizen claiming 3 for 13.

Spinners Rakep Patel and Rohit Vekaria shared six wickets to help Kenya beat Zamibia by four wickets. Patel took 3 for 16 and Vekaria bagged 3 for 17 as Zambia were spun out for 152. Kenya achieved victory in 34.1 overs for the loss of six wickets.

The winner of the Africa Under-19 Qualifiers join Papua New Guinea (from the East Asia-Pacific Region), Ireland (from the Europe Region) and Bermuda (from the Americas Region), the ICC's 10 Full Members and hosts Malaysia at the 16-team U-19 World Cup from February 17 to March 2 2008 in Malaysia.

The Gambia will host the North-West African Cricket Championship between May 11 to May 18. Six countries - Mali, Morocco, Sierra-Leone, Nigeria, Ghana and the Gambia - are expected to take part in the championship which will be the first of its kind on the continent.

It won't get many column inches in the mainstream cricket press, but the World Cricket League, which started in Nairobi yesterday and continues into next week, features the best of the rest, the six sides just under the ten Test-playing countries. For the two finalists, the rewards are bountiful - a place among the big boys in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, along with $250,000. For countries used to surviving on annual handouts from the ICC of less than $200,000, that's big money.

Continue reading "A long way from home"

Hoosain Ayub, the ICC development officer for Africa, has said that Nigeria has the potential to become a major power in the cricket world. Ayub gave a presentation entitled "Good governance and leadership create good cricket team" at the council of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) in the capital Abuja.

"All stakeholders and lovers of cricket must unite and work to turn Nigeria into a cricket giant not only in Africa but in the entire world," he said.

"Countries and regions like Uganda have made tremendous achievements in women's cricket and I believe Nigeria can make similar gains, if you take the proper steps."

He also advised them to seek for corporate funding to sponsor their programs rather than rely solely on funding from the ICC.

Full story at the Africa News Dimension.

Kwesi Sagoe has been appointed president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation:

In an acceptance speech, Sagoe said in spite of the power tussle that had engulfed the federation in the last 12 months, the body was still able to run its programme without hindrance.

“This shows that members of the board of the federation can manage successfully their differences even in crisis”, he said.

The cricket body was left without a leader after a stalemated election between Sagoe and former president Dr John Abebe.

More at The Tide Online

The Nigerian Cricket Association has announced a new initiative to switch the initiative from competitions to youth development.

Dr. John Abebe, the chairman of the Nigeria Cricket Association, said:

“We realised the imperative of de-emphasizing on running competitions. Those who play cricket were getting past their prime and the lack of successors was all too glaring to see.”