...Our ‘A’ game can beat any team in the tournament
By Philips Robinson-Adefioye, UK
Nigeria’s Yellow-Greens Women’s Cricket Under 19 coach, Sarah Bhakita says Nigeria is not intimidated by known and traditional names in the world of Cricket.
Bhakita made this statement after Nigeria’s Yellow-Greens U19 women’s team shared points with Samoa in the ongoing ICC under 19 Women’s T20 World Cup denied her team the maximum point.
Coach Bhakita who gave this exclusive voice note chat with www.sunrisetimes.com.ng from Borneo Cricket ground,Sarawak in Malaysia early Saturday morning said a heavy downpour also affected the field of play and downed the girls’ high expectation.
The former Kenya prolific all rounder stressed that the focus will now shift to the second game against New Zealand on Monday adding that the team remain determined to make Nigeria proud and create memorable impact in the tournament.
“To this game, we have anticipated again, we can not control the controller, we look forward to the next match. As you can see we are playing cricket, we don’t care about the team that comes our way, we will go hard on any team because we know what is at stake.
“Our goal is to make it to the semi final first before we can talk about taking the cup back to Nigeria and we will make sure to keep the tempo high to win the game against New Zealand”, said Bhakita
According to the 36 years old Yellow-Greens handler, “All the games are important for us, we really want to get the necessary points in our group stage and when we get to the super six we can get more points, as can you see, each game is very important.
“New Zealand is a good team, a super power in the game of cricket but I also know Yellow-Greens is also a good team, our ‘A’ game any day can beat any team in this tournament.
” In her words, composure will come to play in other games, we are not afraid of any team, we are here for business, create upsets and get our desired results in this tournament, because we believe in our capabilities” Bhakita emphasized.
Meanwhile, team captain, Piety Lucky also expressed disappointment with the outcome of the game as well as the downpour which she believed led to the results recorded against their opponents.
Lucky, said though they were in high spirits to break a record of winning their first world cup match as debutants and also send a warning signal to other teams not to look at the Yellow-Greens as underdogs
“As the competition unfolds we remain determined to unleash our potentials and show that we are not pushovers.
“Sharing the point earlier today was not in our plan, we are very disappointed but nothing we can do because we cannot control the weather .
Though as it stands, we are ready for the next game, all heads are still up and no cause for alarm”. Piety hinted.
The Yellow-Greens of Nigeria will next file out against New Zealand on Monday as the ICC under 19 Women’s T20 World Cup continues.
