Nigeria’ senior men’s cricket national team, yesterday, left for Entebbe, Uganda, venue of a Tri Series, which also involves national teams of Kenya and Uganda.
The competition, which begins today, is the first international outing for the national team in close to two years owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Nigeria’s coach/High Performance Manager, Asanka Gurusinha, who has re-jigged the squad, “The two teams we are playing are rated ahead of us and this being Nigeria’s first tour in the last two years and the first that I am having with them as their head coach and High-Performance manager, I am really looking forward to it. I think everyone should expect surprises and more importantly, are going to be having fun.”
The Tri Series is part of Nigeria’s preparation for the Men’s T20 African Qualifying Series billed for Rwanda in November.
Players in the team to Uganda are Joshua Ayannaike (Captain), Sylvester Okpe, Chimezie Onwuzulike, Isaac Okpe, Peter Aho, Vincent Adewoye, Daniel Ajekun, Jimoh Abdulrahman, Prosper Useni, Odion Isesele, Taiwo Mohammed, Sulaimon Runsewe, Mustapha Yusuf and Sesan Adedeji.
Speaking on the event, Captain Ayannaike alludes to the change in the composition of the team, saying he looks forward to playing against the two oppositions.
“We are hoping to put our best out there in Uganda against the host and Kenya… we want to see what we are doing right and more importantly where we still need to work on as we continue to get in shape for the T20 Cup Qualifier in November.”
The Tri Series will see each of the sides play six games in 10 days with Nigeria playing its first match of the series against Kenya tomorrow morning.
