Junior Greens chasing World Cup berth
Nigeria's men's U-19 cricket team, the Junior Yellow Greens, are optimistic about selecting the only ticket to the 2024 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as they face five other teams in the final stage of the qualifiers, which kicked off in Tanzania on Sunday.
Coach Daniel Gim's team are eager to emulate the heroism of the Class of 2019 when Peter Aho and Sylvester Okpe qualified Nigeria for their first-ever appearance at an ICC Cricket World Cup.
Following their nervous progress since the Division Two qualifiers in Abuja last year, the team went through three phases of intensive preparation ahead of the tournament in Tanzania.
After camping for a while in Lagos, they traveled to India, where they completed a two-week camp at the Omtex I Can We Can Cricket Institute before returning to Nigeria for another camp at the Benin City High Performance Center in Edo State.
The team arrived in Tanzania last Thursday from Rwanda, where they played three games against a selected senior Rwandan team, winning two and losing one.
While Nigeria will rely on the experience of some of their players in the senior squad, gaffer Gim believes the squad are mentally prepared ahead of the task.
"Mental preparation and awareness of the game are things we have focused on," said the coach.
“Our bowling alley is our asset. He should get us over the line with the Prosper Useni trio, captain Ridwan Abdulkareem and Chiemelie Udekwe leading the way. In a round robin everyone is our rival and we will tackle them as we go."
Cricket Federation of Nigeria Chairman Uyi Akpata says the Nigerian team is the product of grassroots campaigns and relentless stakeholder engagement; to develop the game.
"We have, on several occasions, shaken up the existing powerhouses of the game, and therefore every team here is very suspicious of Nigeria at this event. On our side, we have presented a team uniquely from home, and a reflection of our best talents in the age category. We are more than confident that we would be well represented," he said.
The junior Yellow Greens opened their campaign against Sierra Leone in the early hours of Monday (today) and will face Namibia, Uganda, Kenya and hosts Tanzania in the next eight days.
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Nigeria's men's U-19 cricket team, the Junior Yellow Greens, are optimistic about selecting the only ticket to the 2024 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as they face five other teams in the final stage of the qualifiers, which kicked off in Tanzania on Sunday.
Coach Daniel Gim's team are eager to emulate the heroism of the Class of 2019 when Peter Aho and Sylvester Okpe qualified Nigeria for their first-ever appearance at an ICC Cricket World Cup.
Following their nervous progress since the Division Two qualifiers in Abuja last year, the team went through three phases of intensive preparation ahead of the tournament in Tanzania.
After camping for a while in Lagos, they traveled to India, where they completed a two-week camp at the Omtex I Can We Can Cricket Institute before returning to Nigeria for another camp at the Benin City High Performance Center in Edo State.
The team arrived in Tanzania last Thursday from Rwanda, where they played three games against a selected senior Rwandan team, winning two and losing one.
While Nigeria will rely on the experience of some of their players in the senior squad, gaffer Gim believes the squad are mentally prepared ahead of the task.
"Mental preparation and awareness of the game are things we have focused on," said the coach.
“Our bowling alley is our asset. He should get us over the line with the Prosper Useni trio, captain Ridwan Abdulkareem and Chiemelie Udekwe leading the way. In a round robin everyone is our rival and we will tackle them as we go."
Cricket Federation of Nigeria Chairman Uyi Akpata says the Nigerian team is the product of grassroots campaigns and relentless stakeholder engagement; to develop the game.
"We have, on several occasions, shaken up the existing powerhouses of the game, and therefore every team here is very suspicious of Nigeria at this event. On our side, we have presented a team uniquely from home, and a reflection of our best talents in the age category. We are more than confident that we would be well represented," he said.
The junior Yellow Greens opened their campaign against Sierra Leone in the early hours of Monday (today) and will face Namibia, Uganda, Kenya and hosts Tanzania in the next eight days.
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