Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
Port Harcourt the Rivers State Capital will host the play-offs for the Nigeria Cricket Federation National Men’s Championship scheduled to take place from 24th March to the 5th of April 2021 in Benin City, Edo State.
Rivers, Ogun and Ebonyi States will take part in the play-offs slated for 24th & 25th of March, 2021 in Port Harcourt with the winner joining seven other selected teams in Benin City for the competition.
The play-offs games will take place at the University of Port Harcourt Cricket Oval.
States selected to participate in this tournament are drawn from previous tournament rankings and the same qualification/elimination process of the National Sports Festival where only teams that qualified in 1st position from the various zones have an automatic qualification.
The 7 teams with automatic qualifications are;
1. Edo State (Host)
2. Lagos State
3. Kaduna State
4. Kwara State
5. Delta State
6. Anambra State
7. Oyo State
The 8 teams structure is designed in accordance with the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Criteria on the senior tournament and for it to be recorded in the high-performance scorecard of Nigeria.
This years’ edition shall be played in two formats, T-20 for Group stages while the semi Finals and Finals will be 50 overs. Teams have been grouped into two pools as follows.
Pool A – Edo, Lagos, Anambra, and Play-off winners.
Pool B – Kaduna, Oyo, Delta and Kwara.
The tournament dates and structure:
Playoffs- 24th & 25th of March, 2021 (Arrival 23rd and departure 26th) – Winners head for Benin City to compete in Pool A.
Pool A – 27th to 29th March 2021 (Arrival is 26th) – Top two teams stay on while the bottom two departs tournament on the 30th of March, 2021.
Pool B- 30th March to 1st April 2021 (Arrival is 29th) – Top two teams stay on while the bottom two departs tournament on the 2nd of April.
Semi-Finals – 3rd and 4th April 2021.
Finals – 5th April 2021.
ICC International playing conditions for T20 and 50 overs Cricket shall apply throughout the tournament.
