More than 360 players are going to be fielded this weekend when the boys’ qualifier of the on-going PwC National U-17 Cricket Championship begins.
The Nigeria Cricket Federation has announced it is a record entry on its own.
Former National Male Team Captain, Endurance Ofem who is the
Chairman Development and Tournament Committee of the Federation overseeing the event has revealed that his team expects a very competitive regional qualifier.
“We want the best team from each of the regions to make it to the national finals later in February which informed why we tweaked the conditions of the qualifiers. We want the players to fully express themselves.
“We are going to have ODI, 30 overs in each of the centers. We have put officers on the ground to ensure Covid-19 compliance and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports has sent in support in this regards too which is also complemented by health officials on the ground at each center,” he stressed.
Kaduna, Kano Zamfara, Jigawa, Sokoto are teams for the North West qualifiers. Rivers State would be hosting Edo, Akwa –Ibom, Delta, Cross River, and Bayelsa states while in North Central, FCT will be hosting Kwara, Kogi, and Plateau entries.
The South East entries would be hosted in Enugu with Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia all slugging it out and Oyo is the host for the South West where Lagos, Ogun, Osun, and Ondo are competing.
Only Gombe have an automatic entry into the final as the sole entry from the North East of the country.
Head Marketing and Communication at PwC, Delia Asuzu, noted that the teamwork in each region is a great unifying factor that they identify with.
“At the national finals, each region would present the best team from the regional qualifiers which calls for a great deal of teamwork. It is one of the values that we promote at PwC and we are happy it is what the events is built around,” she said.
The Cricket National U-17 is the biggest platform for cricket expressions among the youth. The national final is billed for January 28th to 31st (for girls) and February 4th to 7th (for boys).
