Kaduna men’s cricket team begins tour of Uganda

Cricket

The Kaduna State government has made good its pledge to keep the state’s cricket team in shape with regular exposure to top training facilities and training tours, as the state’s gold medal winning men’s team have started a two-week playing tour of Uganda last week.

The state team, led by Head Coach, Oche Onoja, who doubles as Nigeria Cricket Federation’s (NCF) Regional Development Manager (Northwest), for the Nigeria Cricket Federation that will engage a select side of the Uganda national team in a series of games during their tour.

“This exposure, sponsored by the state government, has been one of the key development points that Governor Nasir el-Rufai has introduced to raise the level of our game and make Kaduna State one of the cricket super powers in the country,” he said.

Oche added that the state produces a large chunk of the national team players, including the present captain of the national team, Sylvester Okpe and his brother, Isaac, who is an all-rounder in the national team.

“Our development activities has been very key to reaching the heights that we have attained and the support to get here has been immense, especially from the state governor himself, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai. This particular trip is on the strength of our coming engagements, including the National Sports Festival later in the year,” he said.

He added that the national team is by extension also going to leverage on the gains of the trip and some of the key national players would as well be honed for some of the national engagements ahead.

The Kaduna State team would be involved in three 50 overs’ games and five T20 games during their visit. They will be hosted at both the Kyambogo and the Lugogo Ovals in Kampala.

Players in the tour, which