By Daily Sports Nigeria on November 14, 2024

Nigeria’s men’s senior cricket team, the Yellow Greens, are stepping up their preparations for the first phase of the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup qualifiers, which will be hosted in Abuja at the twin oval of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, PUNCH Sports reports.

The Africa sub-region qualifier C will be held in Nigeria from November 21 to 28 as the road to India and Sri Lanka 2026 gets narrower.

The Yellow Greens have been training in Abuja under the guidance of their head coach and high-performance manager of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Steve Tikolo, as they prepare to battle Botswana, Eswatini, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Saint Helena for a place in the next round.

Yellow Greens coach Tikolo is expected to name his final squad for the tournament in the coming days as he welcomes the trio Isaac Okpe, Isaac Danladi, and Chiemele Udekewe, who have been competing in the Zimbabwe Elite League.

Earlier this year, Tikolo’s men took on Kenya in a bilateral series, which was played in the ODI 50 overs format and the 20 overs.

The Kenyan coach assessed his Yellow Greens team and was certain their performance was promising ahead of the qualifiers.

“There is so much to learn from this series going forward, but at the same time, there were so many positives on our side. The cricket fraternity in Kenya was impressed by the brand of cricket our team displayed—a positive and fearless brand of cricket. They were surprised to see Nigeria play this brand of cricket, and many felt there was a huge improvement in Nigerian cricket,” Tikolo said.

Nigeria was selected as one of the three countries to host the sub-regional qualifiers earlier this year, with the first two already completed in Tanzania and Kenya.

The top two teams from each of the sub-regional qualifiers will go into the final phase, which will see two countries qualify to join South Africa as Africa’s representatives at the World Cup in 2026.

Source Punch Ng

Posted November 14, 2024

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