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NIGERIA CRICKET TEAM PREPARES FOR WCL AFRICA 2 IN SOUTH AFRICA | (2008-08-20 )
A 16-man Nigerian cricket squad left the country on the 9th
August, 2008 to undergo a 10-day training tour at the Easterns
Cricket Union academy in Benoni, South Africa under the
auspices of the Africa Cricket Association(ACA) in preparation
for the World Cricket League Africa 2 tournament taking place
in Lusaka, Zambia from 20th to 24th August, 2008.
The squad has Dipo Idowu as Team Manager, Ewa
Henshaw as Coach and 14 players as follows: Wale Adeoye,
Endurance Ofem, Seun Odeku, Segun Olayinka, Tope Olayinka,
Uthe Ogbimi, Demola Onikoyi, Emmanuel Okwudili, Jide Bejide,
Chimezie Onwuzulike, Lekan Awolowo, Thomas Haruna, Joshua
Ogunlola and Kunle Adegbola.
The team is undergoing intensive batting, bowling, fielding,
mental approach and captaincy supervision under the able
guidance of Graham Mcmillan, Senior Development Officer
of the ACA.
Speaking on the programme thus far, Mcmillan confirmed that
fitness level of the squad has improved by 60% since they arrived
in Benoni and he would continue to monitor the team's progress.
Three warm-up matches are part of the intensive programme with the first
one played against an Easterns Cricket Union Selected side last Wednesday
in which the Nigerian team lost narrowly by 20(213 to 193) runs with good
batting performances by Emmanuel Okwudili(47), Seun Odeku(38) and
Endurance Ofem(27).
Kunle Adegbola took 2 wickets for 25 runs in
8 overs, Thomas Haruna was economical with 14 runs conceded from
his 5 overs; whilst Jide Bejide who took 3 wickets was expensive
with his 9 overs conceding 54 runs. Joshua Ogunlola also had a fair
performance with 1 for 36 in 9 overs.
The team will play two further warm-up matches over the weekend
as it hones its startegies for the tournament.
The squad travels to Zambia, venue of the tournament on Tuesday 19th
August and will engage Mozambique on the 20th, Zambia on 21st,
Botswana on 22nd, Ghana on 23rd and Swaziland on 24th August.
Should the Nigerian team win this tournament, it will move out of the
Africa zone of the WCL and move into the global zone with a WCL 4
scheduled for Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in October, 2008.
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