The boys and girls teams from the South-South region claimed the titles at the 3rd PwC National U-17 Cricket Championship at the weekend in Abuja.
The South-South boys ran over their South-East counterpart by 41 to checkmate their bowling attack that was led by Udekwe Chiemelie.
Representative of Sponsor of the Championship, Tolu Adeleke, said the performances demonstrated in the five-day finals of the event at the MKO Abiola Stadium Abuja justified the investment put in by the organisation of the event.
“None of the team that participated is a write-off, they all have huge learning here and we are glad to have seen different players from the same region work together to achieve national honour,” he said.
He emphasized that as much as this year’s final duel in the boys’ category between the South-East and the South-South was the high-point of the event, unity, and integration by the regional teams was another gain that cannot be ignored.
“The South-South team that won comprised of the players from Edo, Delta, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Bayelsa, and that was key for us as their working together to achieve a coming purpose was the ultimate for us,” Adeleke said.
He said the participation of the North East team that had Borno, Gombe, and Taraba states represented an important feat for the event in its third year.
“This year we had thousands of students who got screened to make the state team and 784 participated competitively at the regional finals before being narrowed down to the 168 kids that were camped for this event for the five days that the championship,” he added.
Prosper Useni, with twelve wickets, won the Most Valuable Player of the championship for boys while Agboya Peculiar from the South-South Girls team won the MVP earlier in the day.
President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, said that the federation is focused on depending on the game adoption and growth through the deliberate deployment of its five-strategic imperatives.
“We have enjoyed deep support of the Sports Ministry and the Honourable Minister, Sunday Dare has been magnanimous in his support for our programmes. We look forward to leveraging his support to get more kids out here in the next editions and our other projects,” Akpata said.