The Nigeria Cricket Federation has unveiled the 7th edition of the National U-17 Cricket Championship set to begin with the zonal qualifications across the country.
The federation’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Musa Bodie, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Lagos and made available to newsmen.
He said that this year’s edition would witness 36 states, across the country, participating in the zonal qualification.
He said that the best from the states would be selected to form a team that would represent the zone in both Boys’ and Girls’ categories.
Bodie said that the National U-17 championship is the biggest age grade tournament in Nigeria and North West Africa.
He added that the championship serves as a platform to identify the next generation of national team players for the country.
“The current senior Men and Women’s National team comprised of 70 per cent players that have passed through the system.
“About 100 per cent of the national Under-19 players in both Male and Female categories are products of this tournament, ” Bodie said.
He further said that action would begin across the zones with scheduled dates as follows: North Central from Feb. 26 to March 1 while North West will be from Feb. 25 to March 1.
The North East is from Feb. 25 to March 1, South West- Feb. 18 to Feb. 21, South East – Feb. 18 to Feb. 22, while South-South is scheduled from Feb. 25 to March 1.
The PRO noted further that in the North Central, zonal qualification will take place at the twin cricket oval, M.K.O Abiola Stadium, Package B’ Abuja, while Kaduna State will host the North West region.
“Adamawa will play host to all the states from the North East, while Edo State will host the South-South.
“Government College Owerri will host the South East while Ogun State will be the home to all states in the South West Zone,” he said.
