Team Edo on Wednesday overwhelmed Team Kaduna with 57 runs to emerge champions of the National Men’s Cricket Championship in Benin City.
Peter Aho, the captain of Team Edo, attributed their victory to discipline and huge support from the Edo State Cricket Association.
“We give the glory to God and we thank all our mentors and the leadership of the Edo State Cricket Association who have sacrificed and encouraged the team to this height.
“We dedicate this victory to them,” the member of the national under-19 Cricket World Cup team in South Africa in 2020 said.
Yahaya Ukwenya, President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, while speaking on the competition said the event has served its purpose.
Ukwenya said the opportunity to have more players drawn into the pool to be camped for the national assignments the country would be involved in later in the year was very key.
“We set out to, among other things, use this event as a platform for the best players in the country to showcase their skills.
“The national coach, Asanka Gurusinha, watched every match of this encounter with a team of selectors.
“Soon our national camp will open for the assignments ahead with some new players invited based on their performance here,” he said.
Mustapha Yussuff of Team Lagos was named the bowler of the series for bowling 16 wickets in four matches.
Selim Salau and Isaac Okpe from Edo and Kaduna state were adjudged the Fielder and Batsman of the event respectively.
Sylvester Okpe, the captain of Team Kaduna, was named the Most Valuable Player of the Championship.
Kofi Sagoe, the newly re-appointed Chairman of Lagos State Cricket Association, who was one of the selectors at the event, said the event has put some players under the spotlight.
Sagoe said the development would enrich the base of the national team.
He said:”I think we should commend the work done by the Federation for constantly pushing the boundaries for developmental initiatives.
“We have some learnings and have seen some more promising talents that should be mentored and groomed. This, I think, our national coach is equipped to bring about in them.
“As for Lagos, our team was adjudged third, based on Net Run Rate, since there was no third-place match.
“They are back in Lagos and had began technical analysis of our performance at this event, including some fixes that we hope will help us place better at the upcoming National Sports Festival.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that eight states —- Lagos, Edo, Kwara, Anambra, Kaduna, Ebonyi, Rivers and Oyo —-participated in the championship which began on March 22.
