The President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata , said all is now set for the maiden Women’s Invitational T20I Tournament at the Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos from March 28.
He said: We have just few days to the official opening event and we have most of our boxes ticked. The ground is taking very good shape and necessary accessories needed for the full running of an event of this magnitude are almost fully in place. I can say we are very ready.”
The event is expected to become one of the biggest women’s cricket events on the continent, given the pool of participating countries.
“We are expecting the five other countries joining Nigeria to start arriving on Saturday and we have a number of pre-event formalities that has been scheduled to go on from there until the first ball on next Monday, ” he added.
Uyi also said the event has also enjoyed a huge support from corporate Nigeria, especially those with some measure of interest in the gender perspectives that this event addresses.
“We would be making a show of our sponsors and partners sometimes during the week and I believe their support at this time has been a huge plus for this event taking off in the first place.”
The international Cricket Council (Africa) who also has sanctioned the event, will also be monitoring proceedings form the start to finish, including making each match count for each nation’s ranking.
Akpata said the Women’s Invitational T20i Tournament is part of the developmental plan of the Nigeria Cricket Federation and will be upheld as a yearly event to sustain the growing interest and extraordinary achievements that the Federation has attained with Women’s enrolment into the game in the past few years.