The Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) says 800 players are expected to feature in the third edition of the Under-17 National Cricket championship.
The tournament is being organised by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and NCF.
Mr Musa Ehizoje, Public Relations Officer of the NCF, made this known in a statement in Abuja.
”In this edition, we will see a record of 31 and 25 states in the boys will begin with a zonal qualification series before a team would be selected to represent the region at the finals of the event.
“The qualifiers will be played in at state level in the geo-political zones between Jan. 28 and Jan. 30, 2022.
“A team, comprising of the best players from each state, will be selected to represent the region in the finals of the event from Feb. 15 to Feb. 20 in Abuja,” he said
The regional team selection, he said, is to allow all-inclusive participation that reflects the goal of spreading the game to every nook and cranny of the country.
Also, Mr Tolu Adeleke, a staff of PwC,appreciated he collaboration with the NCF.
“In line with our global strategy, we are delivering sustained outcomes with our involvement with the National U-17 Championship program and other developmental programmes of the NCF.
“This is ultimately to achieve our overall societal purpose of reimagining Africa together.
“We hope for more of these avenues to drive positive change and look forward to a very successful tournament this year,’’ Adeleke noted.
NAN reports that the previous edition had 26 and 24 states featuring at the male and female event and he lauded the grassroot development of the federation for such feat.
Meanwhile, this year’s zonal qualification will see FCT host the North Central zone, Kaduna State will host North West while Gombe will be venue for North East.
Ebonyi will serve as host for the South Eastern states, Edo State will welcome states from South-South and Oyo will host other visitors from the South West Zone. (NAN)
