Kaduna cricket association celebrates 30 new talents

The Kaduna State Cricket Association has revealed that it discovered 30 promising primary school pupils during an ongoing cricket elementary clinic.

The association’s Head Coach, Joe Oche-Onoja, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna that the young players would be groomed to represent the North-West Zone in future competitions, adding, “We are going to organise competitions for them within the zone for them to continue playing the game.

“The pupils will also participate in National Primary Schools Championship coming up soon.” He said the association would create age-group competitions for the talents where they would begin playing from elementary to senior level.

The coach said the clinic was being organised by the cricket council in collaboration with the Nigeria Cricket federation (NCF), adding that the event also included elementary cricket coaching for officials.

A participant at the clinic, Goshen Washak, expressed appreciation at the efforts of the federation in the promotion of the sport at the grassroots, which, he said would revive the sport in primary and secondary schools.

He stressed that grooming of pupils at the grassroots would further sharpen their skills before they could get to the secondary school level.

“I am happy with this idea because it will revive the sport in both private and government schools. I believe these children will become experts before they reach the secondary schools and will become our future national team stars,’’ he said, while calling on government to support the sport by providing requisite facilities and equipment to support growth of cricket in the state.

The International Cricket Council opened the four-day Clinic for 80 selected primary school pupils across the Northwest geo-political zone.