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As the cricket national team prepares to compete on two fronts starting from April and then in May, one of the players that will have the burden of turning out a good performance is Femi Oduyebo of Federal Government College Warri Old Students Association (FEGOCOWOSA) cricket team.

Oduyebo came out of a selection process that had two training camps in Lagos before a final list of 16 players was released and the all-rounder was chosen for the team by the board of national selectors. The new captain of the team, Endurance Ofem believes that the selection process was thorough and that any one that made it into that final 16 list merited it.

Ofem said, “The 16 players were arrived at by the Selector’s Board of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) after two hectic training phases which ended in Lagos on February 16, 2011.” “I think the selectors did a good job in arriving at the final list of 14 players and two alternate players,” Ofem continued.

Also the new coach of the team, Sean Philips said, “Though I was not part of the selection process, I am happy about the composition and we will have a chance when the tournaments start in April.”

A new name on the batting list

The inclusion of Oduyebo elicited this response from the new captain, “Oduyebo’s inclusion is a victory for hard work and perseverance.” Ofem also commended the new national invitee for an overall improved display in the season that just ended.

Ofem also used Oduyebo’s case as an example for the players that could not make the team at the moment and advised them to continue to work hard. “I will tell the players that the national door is not closed. Femi (Oduyebo) has worked hard this year and I am happy that he has been chosen for the national team.” Oduyebo started playing the gentleman’s game at 13 years old in Ogun State. “I started when I was in JSS 3 in 1996 in Sagamu, Ogun State”, Oduyebo stated.

Oduyebo who grew up in three states; Lagos, Ogun and Osun States revealed that it was a grassroots coach called Abayomi, who introduced the game to his secondary school, Makun High School. “I was playing football for my school when cricket was introduced. I left football for cricket because it is a gentleman’s game – no fighting and no rough play”, he said.

A problem that most sportsmen and women face in Nigeria is the inability to combine playing sports with a qualitative education, something that Oduyebo has been able to accommodate successfully.

In Oduyebo’s words, “If you are intelligent you will be able to play the game of cricket especially in Nigeria. Cricket is played on weekends and since I do have any classes – I planned my weekends for cricket and weekdays for education.”

Foundation at Rocks Cricket Club

His journey in the game has been a long but ultimately fruitful one. He started playing league cricket when he was in SS1. “I started playing in the league when I was in SS1. I played for Rocks Cricket Club of Abeokuta, I then moved to Foundation Cricket Club (FCC), Lagos, from where I joined my present team.”

After he was named into the national team, Oduyebo expressed his happiness but at the same time announced his ambitions for the green-white-green jersey. He said, “It has always been my ambition to play for the country and when I heard my name, I was the happiest person on earth because I had achieved a dream that seemed unachievable at a point in time.

“But that is the starting point, I hope to help the team win our games so that we can be a part of test-playing nations in the world.”

Nigeria is currently ranked 36th in the world and not listed as a test playing country.

He enjoyed watching the 2011 Cricket World Cup, which ended on Saturday and has been a keen follower of the games and hopes that one day very soon, Nigeria will become a test playing nation. One of the games that really thrilled him was the India vs. Ireland encounter in Mumbai. “It had everything for a one-day international (ODI). There were catches, sixes and drops – there was tension until the conclusion of the second innings.”

Oduyebo is third in a family of seven. He started his primary education in Ikoyi but was later transferred to Makun High School and to Akesan Grammar School Iperu, Ogun State. In 2005 he gained admission into Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife to study Economics and graduated this year.

The motivation for the season

So many followers of the league commended the selectors for choosing the right-hander, saying that it showed that the league was improving and churning out better players. Oduyebo agreed but revealed that the motivation for him at the beginning of the season was to make sure that his team, FEGOCOWOSA, was not relegated. “I prepared purposely for my club this season because there were various jibes from guys that my club will be relegated and I told them it wouldn’t happen.

“It was a challenge that I prepared for not knowing that it would mature as a call to the national team.” Though he has experienced some horror moments on the way to become both a university graduate and a national team player, he will not trade the journey for any other. “It was a different ball game in the university compared to primary and secondary schools; where the love of the game kept you batting and bowling and the pressure of school work was not as intense as in the university,” Oduyebo disclosed.

“One bad experience I had was during this last semester at OAU. As an extra year student, I was maligned by some University of Lagos players and their lecturer, that I was no more a student, whereas I had an extra year to go – I could live with it because I appreciated the fact that they saw me as a threat to their winning the games at NUGA.

“Of course I did not like the attention and the slur it cast on my reputation, thankfully the misunderstanding was cleared up.”

There will be no such misunderstanding as Oduyebo gets ready to bat the opposition into submission in Botswana and then in South Africa. The squad is currently preparing for the Africa Premier League (APL) T-20 Division 2, which was supposed to take place in South Africa from April 22-28, 2011 but has been shifted till after the World Cricket League (WCL) Division 7 holding in Botswana from May 1-8, 2011. The national team players have procured visas for a two-week training camp in Benoni, South Africa and are billed to leave the country on April 13, 2011.