Akpata Unveils Plans For Nigerian Cricket In 2025
The President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation Uyi Akpata is targeting improved rankings for Nigerian cricketers in 2025 after their impressive performances in 2024.
Nigerian Cricket enjoyed a successful 2024 with the women’s team winning bronze at the African Games in Ghana before qualifying for the 2025 ICC Women’s U-19 World Cup in Malaysia.
The Yellow Greens of Nigeria also defeated Botswana by 77 runs to win the sub-regional World Cup qualifier title at the twin ovals of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja in November.
Akpata also revealed that the federation is ready to build on the success of 2024, while mapping out the plans to improve the capacity of the national teams.
He said: “The year 2024 was a very eventful year for us in the global picture. It was a year of consolidation for us, and those things were coming together.
“The male team beat Namibia for the first time at the African Games in Ghana, and the female team returned with a bronze.
“Nine members of that team are also heading to Malaysia for the World Cup this year.
“For us, that is not the end; we have now built a foundation, and we are going to be seeing real success in 2025.
“We want to break into the top 20 in female cricket, and we want to make the top 30 in the male game so that we can be in the challenge league where we can play the ODI format.
“We also want to bring in more facilities so we can host more tournaments in the geopolitical zones, which will allow us to focus on equipment and high performance.
“We also want to strengthen female cricket with 1,000,000 entries into the game in the next five years as part of aligning with the ICC global strategy.
“We now have a brand, and we want to go commercial. We want to attract people and let them know they can invest in the cricket brand.”
Nigeria will battle it out with New Zealand, South Africa, and Samoa in Group C at the 2025 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia.
The Junior Yellow Greens Nigeria will open their campaign against Samoa on January 18, 2025 before taking on New Zealand two days later and South Africa on January 22, 2025.
Akpata Unveils Plans For Nigerian Cricket In 2025 is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
