Akpata: PwC U17 Tournament is Pathway to National Team in Future

President  of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Uyi Akpata, has said that the NCF/PwC National Under-17 Championships was a pathway for talents to feature at the national team. 

A total of 168 players from the six geopolitical zones will be participating at the event beginning today at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium Cricket Oval, Abuja.

Akpata, who was represented by Secretary General of the federation, Taiwo Oriss, yesterday at a press briefing ahead of the fourth edition of the tournament, said the partnership between both organizations has brought lots of development to the Nigerian cricket community.

“It is great for us having an organization like PwC partnering with us for over four years.

“This tournament is a pathway for players to be selected at the national team level.

“We have seen lots of players, who have been impressive at the event feature for the country in the short existence of the championship.

“The competition also affords us the opportunity of getting kids off the street and giving them hope through the game of cricket,” Akpata said.

On his part, Tolu Adeleke, a Partner at PwC said the organization has been pleased with the initiative so far and reiterated support to the NCF. 

“We are excited and pleased to be here again. We have been doing this for the past four years and even before this, we were actually part of cricket developments in Nigeria, focusing on young talents especially when we started with “Naija Kids cricket competition” about five years ago.

“The values of the International Cricket Council (ICC) aligns with that of PwC. The values of integrity, working together, care etc and that is what the kids have exhibited in this competition over the years.

“We are proud with the crop of talents groomed so far and their achievements and as long as we see this positive impact, we will continue to support this laudable initiative,” Adeleke said.

E