Women’s T20 Cricket is a Litmus Test for Nigerian Team, Says Obalola

Vice-President and facility sub-committee Chairman of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Oyewole Obalola, has said that the newly upgraded Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Turf in Lagos will be a good test for the female national team, when the six-nation invitational tournament gets underway later this month.

According to Obalola, “The campaign to have better  playing facility is one of the cardinal goals of the Federation and we are glad that our prime facility, the Tafawa Balewa Square Oval is now at par with international standard,” he said.

He added that the lack of top-grade cricket turf wickets has been one of the limiting factors for developing top cricket talents in the past and the current spate of development of facilities across the country will help relegate that to the background.

The 10-strip Tafawa Balewa Square turf in Lagos is one of the seven new facilities that the NCF  has put up in the last two years to compliment the talent development plan of the federation and will be the centre stage of the forthcoming Nigeria International Women T20 Tournament to start in Lagos from March 26th, 2022.

“We want our girls to get accustomed to it and get comfortable with playing competitive events off the turf wickets. So the coming event is a litmus test for the girls and an upgrade for the level of home games they are usually exposed to,” Obalola also said.

The six-nation Women 20-over Tournament will be hosted in Lagos with Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and The Gambia battling for honour from March 26 to April 4, 2022.