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History was made on Saturday, 7th November 2009. | (2009-11-10 )

History was made on Saturday, 7th November 2009 when the Iris Smart CCC Cricket League took off at the TBS Cricket Oval in Lagos, the home of Nigerian cricket. In the first official Limited Overs match to be played in Nigeria with Coloured Clothing and a white ball, newcomers to Division 1 of the league, FGCWOSA Cricket Club took on the defending champions, Ibeju-Lekki Cricket Club in the first league match for the 2009/10 cricket season.

To mark the historic occasion, CCC invited the Lagos State Cricket Association Chairman, Mr. George Wiltshire a Nigerian ex-International to bowl the first ball using a white cricket ball. Facing him with the bat was another Nigerian ex-International, Mr. Ewa Henshaw with the CCC Chairman, Mr. Tunde Akinleye and Vice-Chairman, Mr. Anil Gopwani closely observing proceedings.

The competing teams then took the field in their coloured outfits. With the brilliant weather and the lush close-cropped outfield, it was a glorious site to behold and illustrates the rate at which cricket has developed in Nigeria especially in the last 3 years.

FGCWOSA CC batted first and ILCC quickly showed their intention to retain the title this season with their bowlers bowling a testing line and claiming a couple of early wickets. FGCWOSA CC found scoring difficult, chalking up just over 20 runs in the first 10 overs. Despite losing wickets steadily, FGCWOSA CC batsmen hung in albeit with some difficulty and their innings ended on 127 runs for the loss of all 10 wickets.
ILCC resumed their innings expecting to chase down the 127 runs easily.
However, FGCWOSA CC, newcomers to Division 1 cricket quickly showed they intended to hold their own in the title-chase this season, quickly reducing ILCC to 8 for 3. This very quickly became 44 for 6 and they looked on their way to winning the match handsomely. ILCC batsmen, Bejide and Oyede however had other ideas. With plenty of overs in hand, they steadily built a 7th wicket partnership which took their team within close sight of the win before Oyede through away his wicket with a careless shot. ILCC however managed to keep their heads down and take the match home in an exciting finish to a great day of cricket.

The 2009/10 Iris Smart CCC Cricket League continued on Sunday with a match between GCIOB CC and Rocks CC of Abeokuta.

CCC has promised that this exciting tempo will be maintained this season with the focus on continuously improving the quality and quantity of cricket being played so as to attract more spectators and thus encourage attendance at its matches as a social outing for families and cricket aficionados alike.

The CCC Chairman confirmed that CCC in conjunction with the National Cricket Federation is working with the University of Lagos authorities to refurbish the Unilag Cricket Oval and bring the facilities up to par.

Tunde Akinleye
Chairman, CCC