Nigeria’s senior male cricket team captain, Sylvester Okpe, insisted that the team had a good tournament with their performance at the recently concluded ILT20 Continent Cup in Kigali, Rwanda.
Despite a six-wicket loss to Uganda in the final, Okpe believes the tournament has been a crucial learning experience that will help improve the team’s game as they prepare for the final phase of the 2026 T20 World Cup qualifiers next year.
The Nigerian team finished as runners-up in the four-nation tournament, securing two wins against hosts Rwanda and Botswana before suffering five consecutive losses. However, they bounced back strongly to reach the final.
“The tournament in Rwanda has really helped us as a team. The guys have been able to see a lot of impacts in their game, being more confident and more expressive which are something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” Okpe said.
“So, in terms of thinking more and applying their games, it has been very impressive.”
Despite the setbacks, the team’s overall performance—particularly in batting, bowling, and fielding—impressed Okpe. He noted that the losses provided valuable opportunities to assess weaknesses and come back stronger.
“Generally, our performances with the bat and the ball as well as fielding have been impressive.”
“Although we lost a number of games, it helped us as a team to assess where we had issues and be able to come back stronger.”
“The guys have been more fearless with their batting and the bowling has been more tactical,” Okpe explained.
Looking ahead, Okpe spoke on the importance of more competitive matches against high-quality teams to further improve the squad.
“So, I feel the next line of action is for us to play more competitive cricket against quality teams which will help our game improve and be able to play well in subsequent tournaments.”
Nigeria’s next big challenge is in 2025 when they will compete for a spot in the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
Having topped the Sub-Regional Qualifier C, they will face seven other teams—Uganda, Kenya, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Namibia, and Zimbabwe—on their journey to qualify for the prestigious tournament.
