Nigeria is not fazed by the prospect of facing such cricket giants as South Africa and Zimbabwe at the five-nation T-20 invitational tournament billed for Lagos this week, the President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Uyi Akpata, has said.

Nigeria will welcome South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Ghana at the Women’s T-20 tournament billed to hold at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) Cricket Oval and UNILAG Cricket Oval from Wednesday in Lagos.

The teams will start arriving from March 18 for the competition, which will end on March 29.

At the weekend in Lagos, Akpata told a select group of senior sports writers that everything had been put in place to ensure a smooth organisation of the tournament powered by Lotus Bank.

He noted that the tournament is one of the programmes the NCF have devised in its efforts at popularising the sport and exposing the Nigerian team to world class competition.

Excited by the quality of opposition lined up to face Nigeria, Akpata enthused that “for the first time, a team from a test member nation will be taking part in a tournament in Nigeria.”

He noted that South Africans hardly go to other African countries for tournaments like this, adding: “For the South Africans to agree to participate in this tournament for the first time in Nigeria shows the level of confidence the international community has in the country and an eloquent endorsement of what we at the NCF have been doing of late.”

On the readiness of the Nigerian team, Akpata insisted that “the girls are good and ready to go. They will be competing against players of their age grade, from some of the best cricket-playing nations on the continent.

“When they finished sixth at the U-17 World Cup, one of our girls emerged as the MVP, which shows how high the performances of our cricketers are.”

Akpata also spoke on the role of sponsors, pointing out that Lotus Bank, in particular, had committed so much to the tourney.

“They have been outstanding and we appreciate their commitment,” the NCF boss said, adding, “I can’t thank them enough.”