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By: Abiodun Adewale
About 100 players from the six geo-political zones of the country will be vying for honours at the fifth Nigeria Cricket Association PwC National U-17 Championship, which runs from Thursday (today), till February 19 in Abuja.
The matches will be played at the twin cricket ovals at Package ‘B’ of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja.
Each zonal team is formed from players that represented various states during the zonal eliminations, which ended few weeks ago.
Technical Director, NCF, Joshua Eshua, said the championship had become the biggest national event for budding stars, adding that the quality of the competition had also positioned it for growing traveling spectatorship among cricket enthusiasts.
“We just concluded the regional finals in the six geo-political zones of the country, which was to select the regional teams for the finals. So, an average of 14 players will be representing each region at the national finals. Also, a number of states and regions also make room for extra players to come along for exposure and experience, which swells the number of athletes on ground at the event.
“We have a lot of cricket club operators and youth development cricket charity outfits that have made the national U-17 championship a one-stop event to spot and recruit youngsters into clubs active in different leagues across the country.”
The secretary-general of the federation, Mohammed Sanni, said the sports ministry was in support of the project and recognised the impact the event had generated at the grassroots, where cricket development has impacted the kids’ social life.
“Cricket is one of the few sports that has been able to consistently achieve a national outlook through its developmental efforts. And more importantly, the girl-child participation has steadily reached 80 percentile in the last four years too.”
Some of the players that passed through the tournament at male and female levels have progressed into the national teams. They include Piety Lucky, Prosper Useni, former U-19 captain Ridwan Abdulkareem among others.
