THE Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) has revealed that the national team would soon begin a tour of London to train and play some exhibition games in preparation for the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cricket League (WCL) Division Six play-off, scheduled to hold next month in Jersey, an island off the coast of the United Kingdom.

According to the NCF, the tour will hold from July 6 to 18 with matches against four different clubs, before the team departs for the world league, which holds from July 21 to 28.

The national team, comprising 16 players, Sunday met Cricket Club Abuja (CCA) in an inaugural match to commemorate their arrival in the Federal capital, where they would be in closed camping under the guidance of Technical Director and Team Manager, Olisa Egwuatu, and Coach Uthe Ugbimi before jetting out to London.

The game against the Abuja club was yet to be rounded off at the time of filing this report.

NCF President, Emeka Onyeama, said Sunday that “the game in Abuja opened a phase of serious preparations ahead of the world cricket tournament and the Minister of Sports, Bolaji Abdulahi, has shown keen interest in our programmes.”

He disclosed that the London playing tour of the national cricket team is being sponsored by a former NCF president, Dr. John Abebe.

“Just before I assume office, we (Under-19 national cricket team) came back from Uganda where we moved from the seventh position to the sixth in Africa.

“Our major priority right now is to create awareness that cricket is played in Nigeria and has come to stay. We have a pillar in Dr. John Abebe, a former president of the cricket federation and a lifetime award winner of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

“Just a few days ago, Mr. President (Goodluck Jonathan) launched the Rhythm and Play initiative, which is a grassroots sports programme for children. The message is that sport could be a vibrant economy in this country given all the necessary encouragements’’.

“We want to popularise the game of cricket and provide grassroots basis for development. Cricket inculcates discipline in its adherents; it is a very serious sport that deserves serious attention from all stakeholders in Nigerian sport like the government, corporate sponsors and even private individuals,” the NCF boss explained.