Leke Oyede, coach of the senior women national cricket team, says picking the 14-player squad ahead of the third edition of Nigeria Women’s T20 Invitational has been a challenging task.
Oyede on Tuesday said the team’s technical crew had a pool of very talented players to choose from.
“Reducing the number of players in the squad to a team of 14 players was a challenging task,” he said.
Team Nigeria are in camp in Benin in preparation for the tournament which begins on Monday in Lagos.
“We have been in closed camp for about a month now in Benin.
‘*Before the closed camping, we (technical team) had been on tour to some states to see and engage with talents there and take note of a few others and assemble them for camping.
“We started with inviting batters to camp for a week, trained and worked with them to be able to achieve the result we need.
“We did the same for the bowlers a week after and we were able to come out with a squad for closed camping.
“Now, we have trimmed the size of the team to 14 players and we have two players on standby and they are the ones who will execute the task in Lagos,” Oyede said.
The coach also added that the team —- which is yet to be officially announced —-would be leaving alongside the technical crew for Lagos on Wednesday.
Debutants Cameroon, Ghana, Sierra Leone, defending champions Rwanda and Nigeria will be participating in the tournament billed to end on April 2.
Hosts Nigeria will begin their campaign against Sierra Leone in the tournament’s opening match, with Oyede assuring that the team were ready to face other contenders.
“For us, there are no underdogs in this competition.
“Although, we lost only the final game to Rwanda in the previous edition, we will not underrate any team this time around.
“From the last time we met these teams till now, I can imagine how much they have improved because we have improved as a side as well. So, we respect all teams.
“Our target is to win every game and, hopefully, we can win the title,” the coach added.
