By Tony Ubani

A Nigerian team of 14 players and five officials are set to storm Malaysia for the  2014 ICC World Cricket League Division 5 which starts from March 4 to March 14.

Team Nigeria which shot into global reckoning with its superlative promotion to the World Division 5 are already in camp in Abuja  preparing for the Malaysian championship.

President of Nigerian Cricket Federation, NCF, Engr Emeka Onyema said yesterday that they would also train in Sri Lanka before storming Malaysia for the big show.

The Nigerian National Cricket team gained promotion to the International Cricket Council, ICC, World League Division 5 after placing second at the Division 6 League.

The Nigerian team twinkled winning four out of five matches, a performance Engr Onyema described as ‘spectacular’.

“We’ve been doing absolutely well gaining promotion to Division 5. And we’re hopeful of yet another splendid performance in Malaysia’’, Onyema excitedly said. Team Nigeria beat high-flying teams like Argentina, Kuwait, Bahrain, Vanuatu but got cut short by Jersey.

At the World Cricket League Division 5 in Malaysia, Team Nigeria would face challenges from Cayman Islands, Malaysia, Tanzania and one other team that also gained promotion  with Nigeria.
Aware of the difficult opposition, the Nigerian team would sharpen its reflexes in Sri Lanka.

“We’ve gotten to a place where we cannot afford to fumble. If we do well, we will be promoted to Division 4 which is regarded as the Elite Club and the money-spinning stage. The boys are well aware of this and are determined to do better”, Engr Onyema said adding that they would jet out to Sri Lanka on February 22 and move straight from there to Malaysia.

However, like other sports in their class, they are suffering neglect from the Sports Ministry and the National Sports Commission, NSC, which have shown glaring  bias for football at the detriment of other sports that win medals for the country without release of funds to them.