Nigeria Content Online

When
it comes to the Nigerian Cricket scene, the year 2010 will go down as a
positive year. In the course of the year, the game took giant strides
towards becoming more professionally run. The national U-19 team was
victorious in the ACA-North West Africa championship before coming sixth
at the African championship. In 2010 the cricket teams also shed the
white uniform for coloured jerseys. In addition, the federation gave
scholarships to deserving players, to help them develop and further of
their education.

Apart from the
above, the Board of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) appointed George
Wiltshire as the General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of the
Federation.

Wiltshire, a
seasoned administrator and ex-International Cricketer, with over 20
years of cognate administrative experience, will now be in charge of the
day-to-day running of the secretariat and also all national leagues and
the national teams. The appointment of Wiltshire was in compliance with
the International Cricket Council criteria for its associate members,
of which Nigeria is one.

That activity added a
novel idea to the sports scene as the concession of cricket gave a good
example to other sports on what can be done to raise the level of the
game in Nigeria.

Wiltshire said that
he was easily assimilated into the role because of the over 35 years
experience he has in the game, both as a player and as an administrator.

“You have to recall
that I have been the secretary of the Lagos Cricket Association for the
past nine years and over these years I have always been working on one
sub-committee or another, so I have never been away from the game and I
am happy now to be able to run the secretariat and add my inputs to the
growth of the game,” he said.

Getting funds to revive the game

Wiltshire explained
that cricket and all other sports, except football, are suffering from
lack of sponsorship – both from private coffers and from government.

“We all know that
football alone takes more than 70% of what government releases for
sports in the country and the other sports – 29 other sports have to
manage the change of 30%, which I really think is not fair on these
other sports.

“Cricket has been
able to make a head way because of the support we are getting from the
International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Africa Cricket Association
(ACA), who generally fund developmental programmes in countries that are
not part of the test countries (10 in number). This has been helping us
organise tournaments, both under age and for the senior national team.

“We also get help in
using the training facilities at Benoni in South Africa. This was where
the U-19 prepared for tournaments in Swaziland and in Namibia and we
will be doing the same for all teams that have international assignments
in 2011. This takes a lot of weight off the federation,” Wiltshire
said.

“The monies that are
realised by the ICC from organising the test matches are allowed to
filter down to us. The ICC also has a global budget from Pepsi, running
into millions of dollars that are sent to us to organise and develop the
game.”

Nigeria is able to
enjoy this largesse because of its associate status and the country is
now rated at 39 in the world. According to Wiltshire, “With all these
and the little that we get from the federal government, we have been
able to turn around the fortunes of the game in the country.”

Emergence of new talent

Cricket was the
first sport to be organised in the grass roots between secondary schools
in the 50s and 60s in Nigeria but it has now been trumped by football.
However, 2010 witnessed a resurgence of sorts in the secondary schools
and the results, which are the unearthing of young talents, are
beginning to show again. Endurance Ofem, national team player and
instructor is happy that new talents are emerging through the ranks.

“There has been
tremendous improvement for junior players. This year, a player like
Vahun Behrani has grown in leaps and bounds. Next year, he will
definitely be knocking on the doors of national team selectors.

There are others like James Chukwu and Niyi Adegbola (who took nine
wickets in the last league match of the year). These players will go a
long way to help our cricket in the future. But they have to be kept
competitive, which is the only way in which they will continue to
improve.”