The Debutants Nigeria will stand England at the under-19 cricket World cup. However, west African countries have not taken the game seriously, as reported by Janine Anthony.
Bowlers Perter’s became the man of the match between Nigeria and Sierra Leone at last year’s qualifying tournament. He scored the crucial runs in the closely fought victory. The players were happy and felt with joy after making it to their first-ever cricket world cup.
Nigerians don’t care that much for crickets. They never held their breath for the team as the team played their final.
Nigeria under-19 cricket captain
The team remain strong and focus on emerging victorious; not dividing their attention to the crowd was there for them. The teammates charged forward, and the supporters who could not watch joined the rest towards the batsmen.
The few team supporters embraced Aho. He took the team to their first world cup ever. The captain, Sylvester Okpe, did not believe the moment his team qualified.
“Sometimes, I pinch myself. We still google the moment to be sure it’s not a dream,” he said.
Nobody expected this to happen. They relegated the team to the second division of African Cricket in 2015 and made it to the top in 2018. Leave alone that the team victory and qualification came as a surprise to many.
“I can say we are like the Leicester City of cricket… we shocked the world,” Okpe said.
Okpe said this regarding the 2016 English Premier League when Leicester emerged to the top despite all the odds.
Nigeria Progress
There are many cricket grounds around the country. However, few people have seen the game and know the cost of equipment needed to play the game. The players were happy and felt with joy after struggling to qualify for their first-ever cricket world cup.
“People in Nigeria don’t take cricket as a sport,” said fast bowler Taiwo Mohammed.
“They love football over cricket, so we just want to show the world that we have something in cricket and we want to get the world interested,” he said.
A difficult test awaits Nigeria’s under-19 cricketers in South Africa as they will prove themselves.
They are in stiff competition, and only their skills and dedication will see them through. They are in the same group with previous winners of the under-19 World Cup. They will face England, West Indies and Australia.
The opening match by Australia on Monday proved that things might not be as they expect. Australia thrashed them 10 wickets.
The captain, Okpe, was not amazed at all after the first match and said that the team had shown a fighting spirit and went beyond their limit.
“If we could get more individuals and families and friends all over to support us during the World Cup, we could do much better as a team,” he said.
The team has to do a lot to make it past the group stages in the World Cup.
Can the team make it to the semi-finals?
Aho, the team hero, firmly believes that that can make it to the finals next month.
When interviewed, Aho said that he firmly believes that they will make it to the semi-finals and maybe play with India at the final. He even said they are training hard to make them there.
Seun Ajidagba was more realistic when interviewed. He said the team should not put all their effort into winning but the experience they will gain from taking part in the competitions.
