LAGOS (SATSports) – The Junior Yellow-Green, Nigeria’s Under-19 Cricket team landed in Rwandan capital city Kigali early on Tuesday morning to begin the defence of the title that earned the country her first Cricket World Cup appearance.
The team had flown in from Harare, Zimbabwe, where they had been on a 10-day pre-tournament tour for the last leg of their preparation for the Championship.
The winner here will fill the last slot of the continent’s spot at the ICC U-19 Cricket Championship in 2022.
Nigeria’s Coach, Uthe Ogbimi, is optimistic about his wards chances. He believes his team is well prepared and will be taking the event one game at a time.
“We are going to this ICC U-19 Africa World Qualifier as the defending champion and that puts a lot of attention on us. We know that,” began yesterday.
He however admits that Nigeria’s game plan is to take every game on its merit.
“Our plan is to take every game on its merit. Our most important game is our next game and we are primed to give our best to every game.”
Ogbimi however warned his wards that no team is ordinary.
“No team at this event is ordinary and we hope to treat everyone with such respect,” he pledged.
Six-time winners of the event and last edition’s runner-up, Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania and host Rwanda make up the list of teams jostling for honour at the eight-day tournament.
Nigeria’s opening match at the event is billed for Friday, October 1st against host Rwanda before taking on Tanzania on Sunday October 3rd. The clash with Uganda is scheduled for Monday 4th before closing the event on a high against Namibia on Wednesday 6th.
The winner of the Qualifying series will take up the African Qualifying spot at the 2022 U19 Cricket World Cup scheduled for West Indies. South Africa and Zimbabwe have already booked spots at the event along with 13 other teams.
