Head coach of the Female Yellow Greens, Leke Oyede, has released his final roster for the 2023 Nigeria Cricket Federation T20i invitational tournament, which holds in Lagos from March 25 to April 3.
Team captain, Blessing Etim, leads the pack of 14 players for the tourney, while Victory Igbinedion and Naomi Memeh are on standby.
Teenage sensation and NCF U-17 championships product, Lucky Piety, who is the first female in Nigeria to score a century in any format, is also included following her exploits at the ICC U-19 Women’s World Cup qualifier in 2022, where she recorded the fastest century with 42 balls.
Other players in the list include Esther Sandy, Salome Sunday, Abigail Igbobie, Sarah Etim , Agatha Obulor, Favour Eseigbe, Adekunle Adeshola, Racheal Samson, Peculiar Agboya, Lilian Udeh, Rakayat Abdulrasaq and Chiyenum George.
The Female Yellow Greens have been camping in Benin for the past three weeks ahead of the tournament as they hope to dethrone Rwanda, who beat them to the title by 51 runs last year.
Nigeria begin their title chase for the third NCF Women’s T20i Invitational tournament with a clash against Sierra Leone March 27 at the renovated Tafawa Balewa Square cricket oval, Onikan, Lagos.
According to Oyede, the team is adequately prepared and the players in the final roster will be putting finishing touches to their drills before hostilities begin.
Rwanda, defending champions of the tournament, will face Ghana later on the first day of the event.
Debutants Cameroon battle hosts Nigeria March 28 for their first match of the tournament, while Ghana square up against Sierra Leone for the second match of day two.
March 30 has been designated as a rest day; after each of the teams would have tested at least two of their four opponents in the 10-match series.
