Coach says contracts have hugely motivated cricket team ahead of KwibukaT20

By ljeoma Okigbo

Leke Oyede, coach of Nigeria’s senior women cricket team, says professional contracts given to players recently have been a huge boost for them ahead of the ninth Kwibuka T20.

Oyede told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that the team has been in open camping in Benin ahead of the tournament scheduled for June in Rwanda.

”The professional contracts handed to the players have added lots of positivity to the team as they are now in high spirits ahead of the tournament.

NAN reports that the team members, alongside their male counterparts, were handed contracts by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) in April.

“Since our participation at the NCF Women’s Invitational in March, the team has had series of camping in Benin.

”We rested for only two weeks and have been training ever since.

“Last week, I was with the batters in Benin and we are focusing on improving the team’s batting ability because it is one area where we have a deficiency.

“We will go into closed camping in the last week of this month, knowing that we are satisfied with the level of our training so far.

“The girls now have contracts and they know the implications. I think the contract is a huge boost for the team as we set out for KwibukaT20,” Oyede said.

Nigeria finished fifth in the tournament in 2022 where eight teams participated.

But they will face six teams this time around, and should be attempting to win the tournament for the first time.

The tournament scheduled for June 8 to June 17 is in commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda.

(NAN)