Sharon Ekhiwere
The Captain of Nigeria’s men Under 19 Cricket team, Ridwan Abdulkareem expressed optimism about his team grabbing the ticket for the ICC men’s Under-19 world cup build to take place in Sri Lanka next year, despite a loss to arch-rivals, Sierra Leone in the first game of the qualifiers in Tanzania.
The Junior Yellow Greens squandered a clear chance to sit atop the table on Monday when they were defeated by the lower-ranked Sierra Leone team by 9 wickets.
‘It was very difficult for our batters to bat in the morning because the wicket was very slow and the bowlers took advantage of it. We were kind of into our shell and the boys were panicking’, Ridwan said in an interview with newsmen, after the match.
When asked what fans and supporters should expect from the team going forward, the Captain of the side said, his team has accepted the result in good faith and moved on, and that the team is now planning for the remaining four matches which he believes they can win, to return home with the world cup ticket.
On his part, the Nigerian Coach, Danlandi Gim promised fans that the boys will step up their performance in subsequent games. He observed that the boys did not give their best and took the wrong approach in the match.
Nigeria (41) will next face higher-ranked Uganda (25) today in a battle that may act as a trajectory for their qualification. Kickoff time is 6:30 am Nigerian time.