U-19 Championship: Cricket Team ’ll Prepare Well – Official

The Nigeria Cricket Fed
eration (NCF) has  said  that arrangements were in top gear to get the country’s cricket team ready for the U-19 African championship in Tanzania.
Its General Manager, Joshua Eshua, said a training tour of Dubai had been arranged to place the team on sound-footing before the championship, scheduled to hold between February 6 and February 13.
Botswana had been awarded the right to host the champion but lost it to Tanzania due to logistic problems.
“We have gotten a sponsor. Dr John Abebe,  has confirmed that he wants to sponsor a tour to Dubai for the Under-19 to prepare for that tournament.
“With the arrangement I have made with our contact in Dubai, we are set to be in Dubai on January  26 till February  5.
“From there, we will depart to Botswana for the championship; so with the confirmation from Dr John Abebe, we don’t have to hold back anymore.
“We have to proceed into camp where we will be able to select 14 people out of the 24 invited boys for the under-19 camp.
“We have barely two weeks to the departure date to Dubai for pre-tournament,“ Eshua said.
He said the Dubai tour was in addition to the camping of the team, which is expected to resume this weekend in Ilorin, following the adjustment in the date for the tournament.
The Tide source  recalls that Nigeria recently climbed six places to rank 19th in the world and fifth in Africa in the latest world cricket ranking.
The ranking released by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for 2014 saw Nigeria leapfrogging Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Zambia, Italy, France and Germany.

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