Immediate past Assistant Captain of the Female National Cricket Team, Agatha Obulor gave a command performance at the opening match of the 2022 season of the Edo Female Cricket League at the Edo Boys High School, in Benin City over the weekend. Leading Idia Royals Cricket Club, she left no one in doubt of her quality from the first ball, as she knocked down 68 runs of the 149 that her team chalked for the loss of two wickets in the first inning of the 20 overs game....
Former governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode joined professor Osato Giwa-Osagie on Sunday, January 16, for the commissioning of the turf wicket of the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval in Lagos. The TBS Oval, the nation’s traditional home of cricket has been shut for 18 months for the upgrade from concrete bowling strips to grass which has been one of the challenges for the development of the sport. Professor Osato Giwa-Osagie. While commissioning...
After 16 months (1year and 4 months) of serious renovation work, the famous Tafawa Balewa Cricket Oval (TBS) would be re-opened officially for cricket activities on Sunday, January 16, 2022. The official re-opening of Turf Wicket at the TBS Oval has lots of activities lined up for that day, including An Elite T20 Game between selected players from the Honorable Gbolahan Olusegun Yishawu Club Cricket Committee League trying out for size some Ex-Cricket...
Compliments of the season from us and ours, to you and yours. This year has taken a lot of getting used to. Almost everything around us has changed in some sort of way. How we work, communicate, travel, do business and even play. One thing though, that has remained is your love and support for us. We do not take it for granted; and in addition to our appreciation, we are pledging a renewed commitment to you. It is in the spirit of the commitment that we have...
For many of us, when we were being taught cricket, it was batting, bowling and fielding in that order. The coaches would usually stand in as umpire/facilitator and members of the batting side would take turns to man the scorebook or scoreboard. This was “the law”, and together with the tagline “the Umpire’s decision is final”, the game never felt more complete. Fast forward all these years later and the role of the umpire, while not at the same level as the willow...
The Nigeria Cricket Federation held its Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 18th of December at the Media Centre of the Abuja National Stadium. The 2021 AGM, the first one since the newly inaugurated board, led by Mr. Uyi Akpata came into office last September was attended by delegates and stakeholders from every part of the country and was preceded by a board meeting a day earlier. Some key highlights of the meeting included a presentation of the...
The 2021/22 Edo State Cricket League has gone on a two-week Christmas break after last weekend’s encounters, leaving the defending Champions, Under 17 Cricket Club as league leaders after the fourth week of the new season. The Team boasting of the core of the nation’s under-17 national team players took out perennial rivals, No-Limit Cricket Club by 11 runs on Saturday, December 18 at the Edo Boys High School, Adolor, to remain unscathed after their...
In a few hours, the AGM of the Nigeria Cricket Federation will be held at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja. The question on the lips of many is "What can we expect from this new board?" We at TheMiddleStump have been wondering too. That is until we got the opportunity to take a peek into the thoughts of the man steering the affairs of the game in our country, Mr. Uyi Akpata. It will be too much selfishness if we don't share some of those thoughts with you. ...
The defending champions of The Edo Cricket League, the U17 Cricket Club saw their first taste of action this weekend and left an indelible mark on their first real opponent to prove that last season's success was indeed not a fluke. After securing a win by walkover last weekend against UNIBEN Cricket Club, and parading mostly the national U17 players, the team made light work of Crusaders Cricket Club. David Abiebhode took 5 wickets in 2 devastating overs...
It’s been over a week since we got back home from the regional T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda, where The Cranes of Uganda picked up the sole ticket on offer. It was a good tournament all around. Well organized by the RCA, keenly contested games, amazing pitches, and great weather for the most part. It was great entertainment for the neutrals…but we are not neutrals. Nigeria fans trooped into Kigali in their numbers to support the Yellow Greens....
The new season of Edo Cricket Leagues flagged off last Saturday, November 27, 2021, at one of the few turf wickets in the country, with a number of the national team players listed for action for the 10-week play. Chairman of Edo State Cricket Association, who doubles as the President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, Uyi Akpata, says this season has more teams competing than the previous year due to the growth the game has witnessed in the state....
Sanath saw the future. Years before the first-ever T20 ball was bowled in county cricket in 2003, Sanath had fashioned a new tactic that has stayed relevant to date. So flawless was this approach, he led Sri Lanka to a World Cup triumph in 1996 without losing a game. Many batters, indeed, nations have since fashioned styles after him and the batting game has not remained the same. T20 is the shortest format in international cricket. It means you have ONLY 120 balls...
Nigeria’s opening bowler Rasheed Abolarin has been ruled out of the Regional Final ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier billed for Rwanda from Wednesday, November 17 to Sunday, November 2021 due to a knee injury. The Lagos Asians Cricket Club player picked up a knee injury which has ruled him out of the tournament and his position is now taken by left-arm bowler Taiwo Mohammed, who is making a return to the team. According to National Coach and High ...
The Nigeria National Senior Men’s team, the Yellow-Green will this week begin a four-day six-match session for the ticket to represent the continent at the next T20 World Cup in Australia in 2022. Uyi Akpata, President of the Federation said that the team preparations for this event have been in top order and he expects nothing but a fight along with the other competitors, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya. “We have had the team training together for weeks and had...
...yes, you read the title right. When the team to face West African neighbors Sierra Leone was announced, many of us were sure that this was the team that would step out to defend Nigeria’s honor in the ICC Men’s T20WC Africa Qualifier. We thought that the 6-match T20I series was a chance to give the boys some match practice while racking up a few ranking points. We can pretty much check those boxes as done. After all, 5 wins out of 6...