Nigeria’s team for the maiden International Cricket Council’s African Qualifier for the maiden Women Under 19 World Cup will depart the country on Tuesday August 30th, 2022 for Gaborone in Botswana.
President of Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata said while it is not in doubt that Women’s Cricket in Nigeria is one of the leading development stories on the continent, the Federation has been working at spreading the effort across board.
“ it gives me joy to see the young teenagers that would be taking part in the maiden Under 19 Women’s World Cup in Botswana. Virtually all the players representing Nigeria are the direct product of our schools developmental project, the ones that earned Nigeria the global development Awards.”
The final list of the players representing the country was released over the weekend after intensive camping of the team at the Edo Boys High School, High performance center.
The list is led by Miracle Imimole, who comes with experience as a current national team player. Other players include, Victory igbenedion, Divine Uranta, Lucky Piety – (Wk), Queen Joseph, Oseyande Omokhobhnlhio, Rebecca Awaji – (Wk), Aisha Shittu (Wk), all of whom are batters.
The bowlers include Henrietta Mbam, Rejoice Assan (Spin), Peculiar Agboya, Ude Lilian, Judith Anthony, and Rukayat Abdulrasak who is the team’s Vice Captain. The team’s standby players are Shola Adekunle and Amarachi Noko.
Coach of the team Onome Oghenekevwe said the team is primed for the event with a number of the players already regulars on the national women’s team.
“Our goal is to pick the World Cup ticket at the Qualifiers. So every game is important to us. The male side did it in 2019, so there’s nothing more than picking the ticket. Our team is motivated for the goal” he said.
Nigeria will be battling for the lone World Cup spot alongside Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, and host Botswana.
The Qualifiers will run from September 3rd to 12th in Gaborone
