NCF Puts Women’s Cricket Devt to U19 Series Test

The Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) has put together the maiden age-grade international tournament for the Women’s Under-19 national team, the  Nigeria-Ghana Under-19 Women Series.

The event is a four-team invitational Serie that kicked off on Sunday, September 8, 2024, at the University of Lagos Cricket Oval. It parades Ghana’s Under-19 National Team, the South-West female team, a selected national Women’s team, and Nigeria’s Under-19 Women’s Team.

According to the President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, the event is meant to test the Federation’s development effort for Women’s Cricket.

“Apart from getting the Women’s Under-19 team in shape for the Division One World Cup Qualifier starting September 22nd in Kigali, Rwanda, this event allows us to test the depth of our women’s development.  For the first time, we are parading three teams of national team quality and invited Ghana’s Under-19 Women to join.”

Akpata said that the strategic objective of the Federation is to attain gender equality in its developmental effort.

“We have had our school outreaches focused a bit more on girl-child initiatives and it has been yielding results. The impact is beginning to resonate for the country already,” he added.

The Female National Team put up a podium performance at the African Games in Accra earlier in March ahead of the Male team with a Bronze medal, justifying the investment in female  cricket development in the country.

“We now have a female Cricket League run in the South-South, with eight teams taking part and a fully functional cricket facility inside an all-girls Iyoba College in Benin City, Edo State,” he added.

The ongoing Nigeria-Ghana Under-19 Women Series complements these initiatives and also helps the national Under-19 Women’s team shape up for the World Cup Qualifier that is scheduled for September 22nd to 29th at the Gahanga Cricket Stadium in Kigali, Rwanda.

Nigeria has been drawn in Group B of the eight-team series that parades Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Malawi. Group A has Rwanda, Namibia, Uganda, and Kenya.

“Development is an ongoing process, carefully curating the process that produces and hones our players’ skill is key for us. Of course, we are looking forward to picking the World Cup ticket, but it will be better if we keep refining the process that produces and makes our players better,” concludes the NCF chief.