Nigeria national cricket team

Last updated

Nigeria
Nigeria Cricket Federation.png
Nickname(s)Yellow Greens [1]
Association Nigeria Cricket Federation
Personnel
Captain Sylvester Okpe
Coach Steve Tikolo [2]
History
Twenty20 debut Flag of Nigeria.svg Nigeria v. North West
(Boland Park, South Africa; 14 September 2018)
International Cricket Council
ICC status Associate member (2002)
ICC region Africa
ICC RankingsCurrent [3] Best-ever
T20I 36th 36th (25 May 2019)
International cricket
First internationalFlag of Lagos Colony (1888-1906).svgLagos Colony v. Gold Coast Flag of the Gold Coast (1877-1957).svg
(Lagos, 25 May 1904)
Twenty20 Internationals
First T20Iv Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya at Kyambogo Cricket Oval, Kampala; 20 May 2019
Last T20Iv Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia at Achimota Oval B, Accra; 18 March 2024
T20IsPlayedWon/Lost
Total [4] 52 26/24
(0 ties, 2 no results)
This year [5] 2 1/1
(0 ties, 0 no results)
T20 World Cup Qualifier appearances2 [lower-alpha 1] (first in 2019 )
Best result5th (2023)
As of 18 March 2024

The Nigeria national cricket team is the men's team that represents the country of Nigeria in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Nigeria since the late 19th century, and the national team played their first match in 1904, when a team representing the Lagos Colony played the Gold Coast Colony. [6] The Nigeria Cricket Association has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2002. [7]

Contents

History

Early years

Cricket has been played in Nigeria since the late 19th century when the game was introduced by the British. [8] Contacts between the administration in Lagos and their counterparts in Gold Coast (now Ghana) led to an international at Race Course (now Tafawa Balewa Square), Lagos on 25 May 1904, [9] [10] the Gold Coast winning by 22 runs. [6]

The match became an annual fixture and for the first three matches was multi-racial. The fourth fixture in December 1906 was for Europeans only, and the African population started their own annual fixture in 1907. Internationals stopped for the First World War, and did not restart until the mid-1920s. [6]

Between the two world wars, cricket began to become more formally organised in the country with two cricket associations for the Europeans and Africans being formed in 1932 and 1933 respectively. First-class cricketers from England began to appear in the annual matches against Gold Coast, [6] and the 1939 match, the last before World War II ended in a 58 run win for Gold Coast. [11]

Matches resumed after the war with a five-day match in Lagos in 1947 which ended in a draw. [12] The 1949 match went the way of the Gold Coast. [13] As the number of Europeans working in the country reduced, the quality of the African players increased and cricket began to be organised on multi-racial lines in 1956. [6]

Post independence

National U-17 Championship, Northeast Edition (elimination), 2024 National U-17 Championship 5th Edition.jpg
National U-17 Championship, Northeast Edition (elimination), 2024

Following Nigeria's independence in 1960, there was much interest in cricket. Annual matches against Sierra Leone and The Gambia began in 1964, and were evenly contested until the late 1970s, when football began to become more popular in the country. Cricket began a process of decline, and when Tanzania toured in 1974, Nigeria lost two of the three matches and drew the other. They also lost heavily to the MCC in 1976. Internal problems with both the Nigeria Cricket Association and in Nigeria itself led to a decline in standards, though Nigeria formed a majority of the players on the West Africa cricket team [6] that became an ICC associate member in 1976. [14]

The West Africa team took part in the ICC Trophy tournaments of 1982 and 1997 before withdrawing from the 2001 tournament in Ontario. [15] Nigeria still continued to play on their own on occasion, [6] though they sometimes withdrew from tournaments, as at the 1998 Africa Cricket Association Championship. [16] The West African Cricket Conference ceased to exist in 2002, [6] and Nigeria became an associate member of the ICC in their own right the same year. [7]

ICC membership

Nigeria's first tournament after becoming an ICC member on their own was the 2002 Africa Cup in Zambia. Nigeria finished fourth in their group after their only win of the tournament against Malawi. [17] They finished 5th in the Africa Cricket Association Championships in 2004, their only win coming against last placed Tanzania, thus failing to qualify for the 2005 ICC Trophy. [18]

In August 2006, Nigeria took part in Division Two of the World Cricket League Africa Region in Tanzania, [19] finishing last. [20] This originally relegated them to Division Three, [6] though they are not playing in that tournament in 2008. [21] They won the North West Africa Championship in 2007 [22] and 2008. [23] Nigeria are played in Division Two of the World Cricket League Africa Region in 2008 and came second hence qualifying for 2009 ICC World Cricket League Division Seven. They came 3rd in the tournament thus remaining in the division . [21] In May 2011 Nigeria participated in the 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Seven in Botswana. [24] Nigeria came second in tournament this qualifying for 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Six. Then the team went to South Africa in May 2011 to participate in 2011 ICC Africa Division Two (T20) en route to qualification of 2012 ICC World Twenty20. They won the tournament and qualified for 2011 ICC Africa Division One. [25]

In August 2018, they were included in the 2018 Africa T20 Cup tournament. [26] [27]

2018–present

In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Nigeria and other ICC members since 1 January 2019 have the T20I status. [28] Nigeria's first T20I match was against Kenya on 20 May 2019, after finishing second in the North-Western sub-region qualification group, advancing to the Regional Final of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Africa Qualifier tournament. [29]

20 May 2019
09:30
Scorecard
Nigeria  Flag of Nigeria.svg
105/5 (15 overs)
v
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya
106/2 (12.2 overs)
Leke Oyede 27* (27)
Shem Ngoche 2/6 (3 overs)
Dhiren Gondaria 47* (31)
Leke Oyede 1/15 (3 overs)
Kenya won by 8 wickets
Kyambogo Cricket Oval, Kampala
Umpires: Andrew Louw (Nam) and Langton Rusere (Zim)
Player of the match: Shem Ngoche (Ken)
  • Kenya won the toss and elected to field.
  • First ever T20I match for Nigeria.

In July 2019, the ICC suspended Zimbabwe Cricket, with the team barred from taking part in ICC events. [30] As a result of their suspension, the ICC confirmed that Nigeria would replace them in the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament. [31]

Grounds

The 2,000-capacity Tafawa Balewa Square Oval in Lagos is the largest cricket stadium in Nigeria. [32]

Nigeria location map.svg
Red pog.svg
class=notpageimage|
Locations of all stadium(s) which have hosted international cricket matches within Nigeria

Tournament history

World Cup

ICC World T20 Qualifier

ICC Trophy

ICC World Cricket League

ICC World Cricket League Africa Region

Records and statistics

International Match Summary — Nigeria [33]

Last updated 18 March 2024

Playing Record
FormatMWLTNRInaugural Match
Twenty20 Internationals5226240220 May 2019

Twenty20 International

T20I record versus other nations [33]

Records complete to T20I #2526. Last updated 18 March 2024.

OpponentMWLTNRFirst matchFirst win
v. Full members
Cricket Ireland flag.svg  Ireland 1010026 October 2019
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe 1010029 November 2023
vs Associate Members
Flag of Botswana.svg  Botswana 1100021 May 201921 May 2019
Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon 110005 December 20225 December 2022
Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada 1010021 October 2019
Flag of Eswatini.svg  Eswatini 110004 December 20224 December 2022
Flag of The Gambia.svg  Gambia 110004 December 20224 December 2022
Flag of Ghana.svg  Ghana 5500022 May 201922 May 2019
Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong 1010027 October 2019
Flag of Jersey.svg  Jersey 1010019 October 2019
Flag of Kenya.svg  Kenya 7160020 May 201916 September 2021
Flag of Namibia.svg  Namibia 2110030 November 202318 March 2024
Flag of Oman.svg  Oman 1010023 October 2019
Flag of Mozambique.svg  Mozambique 110001 December 20221 December 2022
Flag of Rwanda.svg  Rwanda 540014 October 20234 October 2023
Flag of Sierra Leone.svg  Sierra Leone 10910019 October 202120 October 2021
Flag of Tanzania.svg  Tanzania 5130117 November 202126 November 2023
Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda 6060021 September 2021
Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates 1010024 October 2019

Other First Class records

Performances by Nigerian cricketers in World Cricket League since 2009

Current players
NameMatchesRunsWickets
Dotun Olatunji185990
Kunle Adegbola3458833
Endurance Ofem3252115
Ademola Onikoyi345021
Ricky Sharma162840
Segun Olayinka295840
Olajide Bejide315569
Joshua Ogunlola2912444
Oluseye Olympio2715429
Ositadinma Onwuzulike1812710
Chimezie Onwuzulike128511
Saheed Akolade319848
Emmanuel Okwudili203510
Leke Oyede10845
Former players
NameMatchesRunsWickets
Sean Phillips1338614
Wale Adeoye6515
Femi Oduyebo3195
Ayo Mene Ejegi4254
Ramit Gill132038
Oluwaseun Odeku7553
Varun Behani6503
Haruna Thomas231
Sesan Adedeji3291
Olalekan Awolowo71045
Joshua Ayannaike160
Temitope Olayinka412

Highest Scores+

Dotun Olatunji – 127 vs Ghana at BCA Oval No. 1, Gaborone on 7 April 2013

Dotun Olatunji – 125* vs Botswana at BCA Oval No. 2, Gaborone on 9 April 2013

Olajide Bejide – 106 vs Tanzania at Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur on 13 March 2014

Segun Olayinka – 94* vs Argentina at Grainville, St Saviour on 28 July 2013

Endurance Ofem – 90 vs Cayman Islands at Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur on 9 March 2014

Best bowling figures

Oluseye Olympio – 6/23 vs Argentina at Grainville, St Saviour on 28 July 2013

Saeed Akolade – 6/27 vs Bahrain at Farmers CC, St Martin on 25 July 2013

Joshua Ogunlola – 5/28 vs Botswana at BCA Oval No. 2, Gaborone on 9 April 2013

Joshua Ogunlola – 5/34 vs Germany at BCA Oval No. 2, Gaborone on 12 April 2013

Olajide Bejide – 4/20 vs Kuwait at BCA Oval No. 1, Gaborone on 8 May 2011

Current squad

This lists all the players who have played for Nigeria in the past 12 months or has been part of the latest T20I squad. Updated as of 15 October 2023.

NameAgeBatting styleBowling styleNotes
Batters
Sesan Adedeji 27Right-handedRight-arm off break
Akhere Isesele22Right-handed
Ademola Onikoyi 36Right-handedRight-arm leg break Vice-captain
Daniel Ajekun 27Right-handedRight-arm off break
All-rounder
Isaac Okpe 28Right-handedRight-arm medium
Wicket-keeper
Sulaimon Runsewe 22Right-handedRight-arm off break
Spin Bowlers
Ridwan Abdulkareem19Right-handedRight-arm off break
Sylvester Okpe 23Right-handedRight-arm off break Captain
Joshua Asia18Right-handedRight-arm off break
Pace Bowlers
Peter Aho 21Right-handedRight-arm medium
Chiemelie Udekwe19Right-handedRight-arm medium
Prosper Useni18Left-handedLeft-arm medium
Mohameed Taiwo 21Left-handedLeft-arm medium

Players

The following players have represented Nigeria internationally and also played first-class cricket:

Coaching history

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ T20 World Cup Qualifier refers to the Regional Final of the ICC Africa region from the 2023 edition.

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References

  1. ↑ "Team Nigeria set for the ICC T-20 World Cup Africa finals in Uganda". Nigeria Cricket. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  2. ↑ "N.C.F unveils Steve Tikolo as the new Head Coach and High Performance Manager". www.nigeriacricket.com.ng. 23 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "ICC Rankings". International Cricket Council.
  4. ↑ "T20I matches - Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  5. ↑ "T20I matches - 2024 Team records". ESPNcricinfo.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, Sportsbooks Publishing, 2007
  7. 1 2 3 Nigeria at CricketArchive
  8. ↑ "How Nigeria's cricket team 'shocked the world'". BBC News. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
  9. ↑ "Nigeria's Cricket Milestone". All Africa. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  10. ↑ Okigbo, Ijeoma. "Nigeria Invitational in Lagos points towards promising future for women's cricket in Africa". www.aipsmedia.com. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  11. ↑ Scorecard of Gold Coast v Nigeria, 22 March 1939 at Cricinfo
  12. ↑ Scorecard of Nigeria v Gold Coast, 18 March 1947 at CricketArchive
  13. ↑ Scorecard of Nigeria v Gold Coast, 6 April 1949
  14. ↑ West Africa at CricketArchive
  15. ↑ List of West Africa ICC Trophy matches Archived 16 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine at CricketArchive
  16. ↑ Group list includes Nigeria, but final standings do not.
  17. ↑ 2002 Africa Cup Archived 12 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  18. 1 2 3 Africa qualifying Archived 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine , 2005 ICC Trophy official website
  19. ↑ WCL Africa Division Two Archived 24 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketArchive
  20. 1 2 WCL Africa Division Two Points Table at CricketArchive
  21. 1 2 2008 Africa Division Three Championship Archived 24 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  22. ↑ 2007 North West Africa Championship Archived 12 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  23. ↑ North West Africa Championship Archived 11 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine at CricketEurope
  24. ↑ "World Cricket League Division 7, 2011". www.cricketeurope4.net. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011.
  25. 1 2 "Africa T20 World Cup Qualifier Division 2 2011". www.cricketeurope4.net. Archived from the original on 27 June 2011.
  26. ↑ "CSA launches expanded Africa T20 Cup". Cricket365. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  27. ↑ "Ghana and Nigeria set to join Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South African domestic sides in expanded Africa T20 Cup". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  28. ↑ "All T20 matches between ICC members to get international status". International Cricket Council . 26 April 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  29. ↑ "Ghana and Nigeria advance to Africa finals". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 21 April 2018.
  30. ↑ "ICC board and full council concludes in London". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  31. ↑ "Nigeria awarded men's T20 World Cup Qualifiers entry". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  32. ↑ "Nigeria and Ghana begin World T20 qualifying campaign with victories". 15 April 2018.
  33. 1 2 "Records / Nigeria / Twenty20 Internationals / Result summary". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  34. ↑ "Records / Nigeria / Twenty20 Internationals / Highest totals". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  35. ↑ "Records / Nigeria / Twenty20 Internationals / High scores". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  36. ↑ "Records / Nigeria / Twenty20 Internationals / Best bowling figures". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  37. ↑ "Records / Nigeria / Twenty20 Internationals / Most runs". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  38. ↑ "Records / Nigeria / Twenty20 Internationals / Most wickets". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  39. ↑ Henry Savory at CricketArchive
  40. ↑ Richard Parkhouse at CricketArchive
  41. ↑ Geoffrey Anson at CricketArchive
  42. ↑ Robert Melsome at CricketArchive
  43. ↑ William Shirley at CricketArchive
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