Cricket: How Nigerians reacted to Australia’s W’Cup triumph News

After 45 days of breathtaking cricket, the 2023 men’s cricket World Cup ended on Sunday in India, as Australia stunned the hosts inside the 132,000 capacity Narendra Modi Stadium, to win the men’s Cricket World Cup for the sixth time.

Australia silenced the wild support from the 100,000-strong home crowd by dismissing their previously unbeaten opponents for 240 runs with seven overs to spare.

As Australia’s victory was greeted with a sense of emptiness inside the stadium in India, the jubilation still spiralled across the world and some followers of the game in Nigeria were also not left out.

Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Musa Ehizoje, described the victory and the underwhelming atmosphere that greeted it as ‘the satisfying sound of silence’.

“Australia’s Victory against India on home soil is damning evidence of why they are the best cricket team in the world. They lost their last two matches in the 2019 world cup and their first two matches in this world cup which is the longest losing streak they have encountered in world cup history. However, there is a popular saying that, allow Australia reach the semi-finals, you may as well kiss the world cup goodbye and that is exactly what played out,” Ehizoje wrote.

Nigerian umpire and development manager with the NCF, Tonye Timinadi also said India’s loss was due to their rebuilding which could not match Australia’s experience.

“I don’t bet as a development manager working with the NCF, if I did, I would have won a lot of cash on Sunday because I did my magic ball ritual while watching the final and it favoured Australia,” Timinadi said.

“India were magnificent during the tournament but they lost the final because they’re in the rebuilding process with majority of young players coming into the squad.”