Nigeria announced themselves to the world in beating New Zealand at the ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup.
Making their first appearance at the World Cup, they claimed a stunning two-run win over a nation whose senior team were recently crowned ICC Women’s T20 World Cup champions.
But when you look a little closer, it becomes clear that Nigeria’s success is the result of a special focus and concerted investment in cricket for women and girls.
“Our development plan was showing that we should have been here by 2028,” said Nigeria Cricket Federation president Mr Uyi Akpata. “But these girls just keep redefining the standards.
“It shows that when you invest a lot, the results come through, even faster than expected.”
The history-making squad, led by captain Lucky Piety, all started playing cricket from the age of 11 as the first cohort in Nigeria’s developmental programme.
The West African nation has a five-point plan for growing the game and the Federation reaches 150,000 people each year – half of whom are female – with development activity.
A dedicated High Performance Centre for female players has been established in Benin City, where the World Cup squad have taken part in many residential camps in the past five years, an ideal venue for training and team bonding.
“They’ve been a family for three or four years and what you see them doing is what they are doing in training at home,” said Akpata.
“We are making things happen, we are getting things right and addressing issues relating to the players. The structure around governance is very, very important.
“Two years ago we started high performance contracts for male and female players, then those who are in schools on scholarships, building a whole ecosystem and getting people to buy into the vision.
“It certainly helps when you see what the girls are doing in Malaysia, that’s just going to enhance our brand.”
Back home, the heroic performances of Piety and her team have earned them recognition from the Nigerian government and the adoration of a public discovering the joys of cricket.
Nigeria have an excellent chance of reaching the Super 6 stage on tournament debut, with South Africa lying in wait in their third and final Group C game.
They will be able to count on the support of the country as they bid to make even more history.
“Everyone is really excited,” said Akpatra. “We’ve been seeing the buzz on digital platforms and social media, people are setting their alarms and waking up at 3am to watch this.
“We’ve kept a lot of people awake, but we’re getting a lot of interest and ultimately, our expectations are just accelerated. It’s three years quicker than we expected.
“We have 15 wonderful girls who are representative of potentially about 50 others who believe that one way or another, they should also be here.”
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Doll Champagne
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