Lagos tackles Kaduna as National Men’s Championship semifinals begin

LAGOS State will meet Kaduna in one of the semifinals of the ongoing National Men’s Cricket Championship holding in Benin City. Lagos and Kaduna have the highest number of national team stars, which means the battle will be an opportunity for either of the sides to show they have the more coordinated side. The teams lost their respective last matches in the group stage of the competition and this game is an opportunity for them to set the records straight.

The ODI series ( fifty overs) that the matches assume from the semifinal leaves room for a new look and different approach. For starters, the Kaduna team will field the National U- 19 Captain Sylvester Ameh Okpe as its captain, while the Lagos team will field the past and current National Captain ( Ademola Onikoyi and Joshua Ayannike) of the Men’s team.

The Kaduna’s team will also field Jimoh Mohammed, Daniel Gim, Gershon Yusuf, Simeon Samson, Danladi Isaac and Joel Tabat Joseph, who have all played for the country. On the Lagos’ team list, Leke Oyede, Mustapha Yussuff, Femi Oduyebo, Sesan Adedeji, Taiwo Mohammed, Mohammed Moshood and Ayinde Tunde have put their reputation at stake for the epic match.

“These are two teams with experience on their sides as against the two other semifinalists, Oyo and Edo,” the Vice President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, said. “This makes this match one to watch. We will have a number of our technical team members on the sidelines to see these player’s performance and we hope we hope that they wont disappoint their state and hence give us cause to cheer,” he added.

The second semifinal match between Oyo and Edo states will hold tomorrow, with the semifinal winners meeting on Wednesday to decide the national champion.