Nigeria’s male senior cricket team, the Yellow Greens, will begin their pursuit for a place at the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup in West Indies and the USA on Thursday (today), as they take on Mozambique in their first qualifying match of the Africa Sub-Region B at the Gahanga Cricket Stadium, Kigali, Rwanda.
Having not played at the T20 World Cup before, the Yellow Greens are looking to brighten their chances of picking the ticket for the African qualifiers based on the players’ current form, as well as the motivation after their week-long training tour of Zimbabwe last week.
Arriving in Kigali for the competition, national coach Clive Ogbimi said the technical crew, led by Kenyan coach, Steve Tikolo, is confident of a positive result from the qualifiers.
“Our training tour was about digging deep to get results and our lads displayed brilliant performances and character during the games, which is good for Nigeria. Not just now but even in the long run. So, we will take that together and go into our qualifiers in Rwanda and expect that the guys will continue with the winning momentum. That will help us cross the line and bring back home the desired results for Nigeria,” Ogbimi said.
Yellow Greens captain, Sylvester Okpe, told The PUNCH, “Been looking productive and exciting already with the energy we give and receive. Everyone’s spirit is high and pumped up to start the challenge Thursday, especially leaving Zimbabwe with a series win. The chances of qualifying looks good for us if we apply ourselves and put in the desired energy in all our games.”
After facing Mozambique today, Nigeria play their second game against Eswatini on Sunday, followed by Cameroon on Monday, before facing Tanzania next Thursday and then round up their campaign against Ghana on December 9.