Cricket: Nigeria to begin World Cup campaign on Thursday

Nigeria's senior men's cricket national team, Yellow Greens, will commence their journey to the 2024 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup on Thursday.

The Yellow Greens traveled from Zimbabwe to Windhoek on Monday, spending more than a week finalizing their tournament preparations.

The African qualifying campaign will be held in Namibia, and Nigeria will battle with Kenya, Namibia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Rwanda for the ticket.

The Nigerian team is enriched with stars, as captain Sylvester Okpe will lead the team.

Guinness World Record holders, Peter Aho, Ademola Onikoyi, Sesan Adedeji, Sulaimon Runsewe, Prosper Useni, Chiemelie Udekwe, Ridwan Kareem, Isaac Okpe, Daniel Ajekun, Isaac Danladi, Taiwo Mohammed, Joshua Asia, Akhere Isesele and Ashmit Shrestha will be flagging Nigeria's flag in Namibia.

The Yellow Greens will begin the campaign against Kenya on Thursday, and they will take on Rwanda on Friday, take a break on Saturday, and then return to the oval on Sunday to take on Tanzania.

Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Namibia will be Nigeria's Nigeria's next fixture in the second week of the tournament, where the Yellow Greens would hope to make the best of their first major outing in the last two years.

Tayo Atoloye, a Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) board member, said that the Namibia campaign will be a good test for the Coach Steve Tikolo-led side.

He said, "While we have done our best to prepare the team, our expectations should be measured. Yes, the national team has not lost a competitive match since 2022, and we recently just came through the West Africa Trophy win with a 10-game unbeaten record. This event will test our limits."