President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation Uyi Akpata says Nigeria is delivering a world-class event with the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa Qualifier C, which is taking place at the twin oval of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, The PUNCH reports.
Nigeria is hosting five other countries; Eswatini, Botswana, Ivory Coast, St Helena and Sierra Leone in Abuja as the six teams jostle for the two tickets to the final phase of the qualifiers.
Akpata who doubles as the chairman of the tournament’s Local Organizing Committee hailed the International Cricket Council for trusting the NCF to deliver a world-class event.
“This should make all of us proud as Nigerians, the global spotlight this event has given the country, the commendation for the quality of cricket manpower and facility that the country is showcasing with this event,” Akpata said.
“The icing on this is that the national team is equally doing well and delivering incredible performance at the event,” he added.
After winning their first two games convincingly, Nigeria tops the points table for the event with four points and a superior 9.55 net run rate.
The Yellow Greens defeated St. Helena by 118 runs in their opening game on Saturday and followed it up with a historic 264 runs win over Ivory Coast in their second game on Sunday.
Captain of the Yellow Greens, Sylvester Okpe, who earned his 50th T20 cap on Sunday said the team will keep improving despite not breaking a sweat in their previous games.
“This is a team event and we are taking every game one at a time. We might have won our matches; we want to go back and see where we need to improve on despite the performance. But I must give kudos to the team for working together and turning up to carry each other whenever there is a slip.”
The six teams took a break on Monday as play resumes on Tuesday (today) with St. Helena taking on Sierra Leone on Oval 1 at 9:30 am, while the match between Nigeria and Eswatini will be on by 1:50 pm, while Ivory Coast will be take on Botswana for a redemptive encounter.
The best two teams at the end of the event on Thursday, November 28 will proceed to the next round where final Qualifiers for the 2026 T20 World Cup will be determined.