Cricket: NCF drafts players for Super League

The Nigeria Cricket Federation has drafted players across the elite and developmental categories ahead of the maiden edition of the Nigeria Super League, which will be held in Lagos from May 16 to May 30, The PUNCH reports.

President of the NCF, Uyi Akpata, had promised the introduction of the elite league into the Nigeria cricket calendar following the completion of this year’s Club Cricket Committee Lagos League.

The Nigeria Cricket League will feature six teams, namely Central Eagles, Eastern Elephants, Middle-Belt Tigers, Northern Lions, Southern Sharks and Western Dolphins.

Each team represents different regions of the country and they will all converge on the Teslim Balogun Stadium Cricket Oval in Lagos for the tournament.

Each of the teams will have 14 players, comprising 12 elite players and two players from the national age-grade teams.

After the selection of captains, the elite players were drawn from the best of talents in Nigeria based on positions and skill sets, with each team having at least one elite opening batter, core opening batter, elite middle-order batter, core middle-order batter, elite pace bowler, core pace bowler, elite spin bowler, core spin bowler, core all-rounder, elite all-rounder and squad players one and two.

Former Guinness World Record holder for the best bowling figures in cricket, Peter Aho, will captain Central Eagles, while Taiwo Mohammed will lead Eastern Elephants.

Another Yellow Greens stalwart and wicketkeeper, Sulaimon Runsewe, is the captain of Middle-Belt Tigers, while Yellow Greens captain Sylvester Okpe will lead Northern Lions. His brother, Isaac Okpe, will captain Southern Sharks, while Vincent Adewoye will lead Western Dolphins.

The fixtures will be played in a round-robin format before the top four teams advance to the semi-finals.

The winners of the semi-final fixtures will face off in the final on Saturday, May 30.