Nigeria begins campaign for ICC T20 Women Cricket World Cup ticket
NIGERIA will begin its campaign to qualify for the T20 Women Cricket World Cup tomorrow when the ladies meet Sierra Leone in their opening game of the African qualifiers holding in Gaborone, Botswana.
Pitted against Namibia, Cameroun, Uganda and Sierra Leone in Group B, the Nigerian ladies hope to pick the sole qualifying ticket from the zone.
In Group A are Botswana, Eswatini, Rwanda, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Nigeria’s most experienced campaigner, Etim Blessing, is leading the team, which has Professor Mariam Suleiman as leader of delegation.
“The team had been camped for close to a month in Benin City and enjoyed top class training with some of the best female handlers in the country. This is also against the fact that they featured at K wibuka Invitational Tournament earlier in the year in Rwanda, which exposed them to some tough match situation.”
According to Suleiman, the Nigerian ladies are prepared and ready to justify their handwork with success in Botswana.
Apart from Skipper Blessing Etim, other members in the team are Kehinde Abdulquadri, Taiwo Abdulquadri, Omonye Asika, George Chinyenum, Mary Desmond, Joy Efosa, Abigail Igbobie ( wk), Miracle Imimole, Piety Lucky, Agatha Obulor, Rachael Samson, Esther Sandy and Salome Sunday.
Nigeria will take on Namibia and Uganda on Friday and Saturday respectively before taking a rest on Sunday and resume on Monday to tackle Cameroun, in their final group game.
Looking forward to a good outing, Etim said, “We have done a lot of work individually and collectively as a team and I believe the event will be one of our best outings yet and we are eagerly looking forward to hit the field.”