By Ere-ebi Agedah
Outgoing President Cricket Club Abuja (CCA), Mr Reji George has called for improved funding for the game of cricket in Nigeria insisting that there are a lot of benefits in the sport for the younger generation.
Speaking with journalists at the Final Match between CCA Tigers and Millennium Indians in the CCA/OLAM Agri T20 Blast, Sunday at the CCA Oval, Package B, Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, George noted that the game had lived up to its objective, which was merely to increase its popularity in Nigeria and the enormous benefits of the sport.
According to George, the CCA has excellent players and youth participation in the sports has increased greatly in recent years adding that the Abuja Chapter is currently leveraging on the benefits of the sports as dragnet to recruit next generation of players to the game.
‘‘We want to take the game of cricket to schools and the younger generation, we are aware that the game attracts some form of lack of interest from the general public and due to the capital and monetary intensity of the game, we are hoping that more money can be put into the game of cricket and this can only be done by the government.
‘‘As an organization we are mapping out ways for money generation as this will increase interest in the game and encourage younger players to take it up as a means of livelihood. Using India as a case study there was no money in the game, it was the same in India as it here in Nigeria presently, but currently you can see the large amount of money that can be generated from the game of cricket.
‘‘More and more youths are coming into the game and there is a visible significant amount of improvement that has happened over the past couple of years but we need to do more.
He however noted that his tenure has been very eventful as he urged the newly inaugurated exco to continue with the proposed Projects and make groundbreaking significant progress.
‘’It was a good term of 4 years and my high point is that we have kept the game alive and actively functioning, we have had a significant number of tournaments and the ministry of sports has been very cooperative with the Cricket Club Abuja’’ he said.
Incoming President Mr Oludare Aimola stated that for youth development and empowerment, the government must pump in more funds into sports in the country.
He explained that his administration will focus on further youth involvement and development of the game as some of their coaches were presently in schools within Abuja and its environs.
‘‘To take our youths off the streets we need to invest more in sports considering the fact that sports drives the economy of many nations. When you engage the youths they are making a living and you are sure that they can support their families as a chain reaction.
‘‘For my administration we will have a lot of competitions coming up because that is the only way to drive our development programs, presently we have some of our coaches in the schools in Abuja and its environs. We will also be collaborating with the government because cricket is kind of expensive
‘’We have the soft ball cricket where you need a little space, your ball and you can play, just like the street football’’ he said.
Also Speaking the Marketing Manager Aspira Abuja, Adewusi Bidemi explained that sponsoring the cricket event was an avenue to give back to its loyal Nigerian customers and make their products a household name.
‘‘We have been in Nigeria operating locally for decades and so far we have shown our interest in sports, we are also the sponsors of Kano Pillars, so we have been able to penetrate into the market and spread our tentacles’’.
He however explained that for sports to thrive in the country, companies, private individuals and organizations must begin to emulate the Aspira brand and support sports development in the country.
Captain of the winning side, CCA Tigers Saad Tariq Butt attributed the success of the team to unity, faith and disciple among the team.
They got the winning prize of N500,000 courtesy of Olam Agri as the major sponsor. CCA Panthers won the Millennium Challengers in the third-place match played earlier in the day.
In the final game between the CCA Tigers and the Millennium Indians, the scores are as follows;
The Millennium Indians won the toss and chose to bat first. In 20 overs they batted 122 runs for 9 Wickets.
The CCA Tigers came in the second inning to chase 122 runs and needed 123 runs to win. The brilliant batting of the CCA saw them win when they outscored the Millennium Indians at 123 runs for 6 wickets at 19.3 overs.
Best Performances of the match are as follows; Arun Kuma of the Millennium Indians batted 40 runs off 29 balls, Mahesh Nimje of the Millennium Indians batted 30 runs off 35 balls and Subhradip Dey of CCA Tigers batted 28 runs off 24 balls.
In the bowling department of the game, the following were top bowlers; Nishant Kuma Singh of the Millennium Indians bowled 4 wickets in 4 overs, conceding 18 runs. Adnan Akbar of CCA Tigers bowled 3 wickets in 4 overs, conceding 16 runs. Talabi Obafemi of CCA Tigers bowled 2 wickets in 4 overs and conceded 20 runs.
At the end of the final match, the prizes won were:
Man of the Final Match was won by Adnan Akbar (15k).
The overall tournament prizes were:
Best Batter: Abhishek Patel (15k), Best Bowler: Adnan Akbar (15k), Best Fielder: Arun Kumar (15k) and Best Wicket Keeper: Tushar Gupta (15k)
Best Player of Tournament: Abhishek Patel of Millennium Indians (25k).
The winner of the CCA-OLAM Agri T20 Blast 2022 is the CCA Tigers, who won by 4 wickets and got a cash prize of Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N500, 000).
The Cricket Club Abuja is the foremost Cricket Club in the FCT and environs established in 2006 to develop the game of Cricket in Abuja and it’s environs as well as provide an avenue for lovers of the game to play Cricket on a regular basis with tournaments and competitions organised yearly.
Other sponsors of the annual tournament were Prime Housing, Fiullmark and Aspira.
