Akpata sets new targets for Nigerian cricket

President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation Uyi Akpata said the board had set six new targets to scale up the growth of the game in the country in 2025, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

Nigerian cricket recorded some unprecedented success in 2024, including winning bronze at the African Games in Ghana and qualifying for the 2025 ICC Women’s U-19 World Cup in Malaysia, marking the second time the country will reach a global tournament.

To build on the success of the previous year, Akpata revealed that the NCF has mapped out six areas which include improving the current facilities across the country, commercialisation as well and improving the capacity of the national teams.

“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,” Akpata told our correspondent.

“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.”

Thanks to their victory in the ICC T20 World Cup Africa Sub Regional Qualifier C last November, the men’s national team, the Yellow Greens, are starting the year in 36th place in the world while the Female Yellow Greens are 25th in the world.