‘18th NSF, An Opportunity For New Cricket Players’

A batsman with the country’s national cricket team Emmanuel Okwudili, has said that the National Sports Festival (NSF) was the ideal route for aspiring players to make the national team.

Okwudili made this remark during an interview with newsmen in Lagos.

The batsman, therefore, urged intending cricket players at the impending 18th NSF to make good use of the opportunity that the fiesta would provide.

“The reason why the NSF is staged is for the discovery and grooming of talents for the nation’s overall sports development.

“I passed through it to get to the national team and it is a tradition that you must participate in the festival before you can get into the national team.

“And the national team is 30 per cent open to new players and my advice to all players participating in the 18th NSF is that they strive to do their very best,” he said.

Okwudili noted that most of the cricketers, who have participated in the NSF eventually turned out to be outstanding players in the national team.

When asked about the national team, he said that the team had yet to go into camping, ahead of the T-20 Division  seven (7 )tournament for the 2013 season.

“We are hoping that the National Cricket Federation (NCF) will call us to camp by December.

“As I am talking to you, other national teams have already been in camp for the past six months now,” Okwudili said.