Adegbola leads cricket team to world tourney

There were no real surprises as the Nigeria Cricket Federation, on Monday, released the list of players for this month’s International Cricket Council World Cricket League Division VI competition scheduled to hold in Jersey, an island off the coast of the United Kingdom.

Captain Kunle Adegbola, Endurance Ofem, Ademola Onikoyi, Emmanuel Okwudili and Jide Bejide are some of the key players included in the 15-man team largely reminiscent of the squad that represented Nigeria at the World Cricket League Division VII tournament in Botswana.

Other players who made the cut are Ayoola Olatunji, Segun Olayinka, Osita Onwuzulike, Joshua Ogunlola, Seye Olympio, Leke Oyede, Ricky Sharma, Joshua Ayannaike, Saheed Akolade and Mathias Devadayal.

The Nigeria national cricket team had few weeks ago commenced closed camping in Abuja ahead of the world cricket league, which holds from July 19-29 in Jersey.

Speaking on what informed the choice of players for the competition, the Technical Director and Convener of Selectors, Olisa Egwuatu, said the selectors looked at skill and technique, tactical awareness team formation and structure, adaptability to condition and role in team.

“The bulk of the team that won the World Cricket League Division VII tournament in Botswana was retained with minimal changes,” Egwuatu said. “We needed to strengthen our top-order batting and fortify our spin department. We also needed to give width and latitude to our lower order batting and give our bowling extra edge.”