Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
Nigeria under-19 Cricket team will commence its campaign at the 2020 International Cricket Council ICC World Cup in South Africa as they face Cricket powerhouse Australia in their first group B match.
The Yellow Greens of Nigeria is making their debut at the world cup and will face a huge task in making a mark at their maiden appearance.
This is also the first a Nigerian team will feature in a Cricket World Cup.
Meanwhile, the President of Nigeria Cricket Federation NCF, Yahaya Ukwenya said the players are ready to face Australia on Monday.
He said the players are in high spirit because of their level of preparation before the tournament.
Yahaya Ukwenya said Nigeria’s participation at the world cup is already a victory for the country.
The NCF boss admitted that Australia is way ahead of Nigeria in the game of Cricket.
He, however, said the NCF is working towards making Nigeria a cricket powerhouse in the world.
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”For our first cricket world cup match against Australia, the Nigeria Cricket Federation NCF had set up a preparation programme since we qualified for the tournament last year, the boys had been in camp and I believe that we have done enough in view of preparation and the boys are in high spirit”.
”I think they are ready for Australia. You must understand the point we are coming from, we are participating in this competition for the first time. When you’re talking about cricket in the whole world, Australia is among the best and we are facing one of the best in our first match in a world cup”.
Yahaya Ukwenya stated that Australia has won many titles in both the men and women’s world cups.
He said Nigeria is still miles away with Australia and other teams in group B.
The Yellow Greens will also face England on Thursday 23rd January in their second group B game before playing West Indies on Saturday 25th January 2020.
The 2020 Under-19 ICC World Cup is slated for 17th January to 9th February in South Africa.