Nigeria’s under-19 women’s cricket team, Junior Female Yellow Greens are in buoyant mood ahead of their first match at the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier, where they will tango the host nation, Tanzania on Sunday.
Sports247 reports that the Nigerian squad has been in high spirits since their arrival in the Tanzanian capital, Dar es Salaam, on Thursday, after wrapping up their final training camp at University of Lagos (UNILAG) cricket oval.
The team’s technical crew of Sarah Bakhita and Theophilus Ibodeme is backed by the high-performance manager of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), who will guide the squad of 14 players to surpass their historic outing at the 2025 U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia.
Nigeria placed sixth back then, but the NCF is now banking on a huge array of young players who have progressed through the national championships to excel this time out, with Christabel Chukwuonye set to captain the team in a gallant search for laurels.
Other players in the history chasing squad are Shola Adekunle, Anointed Akhigbe, Omosigho Eguakun, wicketkeeper Deborah Bassey, Jessica Bieni, Beauty Oguai, pacer Peace Usen, Favour Effiong, Jennifer Godwin, Glory Idiahi, Chisom Okpe, Praise Onaghise and Inyene Ubong.
The Nigerians will start out on the very first day and hope to be in the final on September 5, as they join seven other African nations in the hunt for a single qualification ticket to represent the continent at the ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup in 2027, which will be co-hosted by Bangladesh and Nepal.
Their target is to join South Africa, who have already qualified automatically, which means the Nigerian players will have to hit the ground running from the word go this Sunday when they face the hosts.
After Sunday’s game at the newly built Tanzania Cricket Association (TCA) Arena, the Junior Female Yellow Greens will also have to overcome the imposing challenege of their other two Group A opponents, Uganda and Malawi.
