NATIONAL WOMEN CHAMOIONSHIP PRELIMINARY STAGE COMPLETE REPORT

The 7th edition of the NCF National women championship preliminary stage rounded up across 5 zones on the country and 6 teams have emerged for the finals in Abuja.

Teams that featured in the zones

    North Central                         North West                                         South South

  • FCT                                   Kaduna State                                Akwa Ibom State
  • Niger State                     Jigawa State                                   Edo State
  • Kogi State                       Sokoto State                                  Rivers State
  • PLATEAU

South East                                       South West

  • Enugu State                              Oyo State
  • Anambra State                         Osun State
  • Ebonyi State

Fourteen (14) players were registered by each state for the preliminary stages of this competition thereby providing a total of 224 Women competing at the women’s senior level.

N:B. Ekiti State, Lagos State, Delta State, Bayelsa state and Kwara State were among the teams that pulled out in the last minute due to lack of funds. Statistically, this represents another 70 players that would have featured in the preliminary stage given a total of Two Hundred and Ninety Four (294) active female cricketers at the senior level in the country.

TEAMS THAT QUALIFIED FROM EACH ZONE

Edo State…………………………….South South

Oyo State…………………………….South West

Kaduna State………………………North West

Anambra state……………………South East

North Central……………………….F.C.T and Niger State

 

Team participating for the 1st time include, Kogi, Jigawa, Osun States respectively

 

QUALIFICATION SUMMARY

South South

Edo State defeated Akwa Ibom by 18runs on day 1 and secured their ticket for the finals by beating defending champions Rivers State by 54 runs in day 2 of the preliminary Stage.

Samantha Agazuma put up a captains display with an impressive 55 runs against Rivers State to ensure victory for Edo State and a place in the finals.

North West

Kaduna State defeated Sokoto State by 95 runs on day 1 and ensured qualification to the finals in Abuja by defeating Jigawa State by

North Central

FCT dominated proceedings in the North Central zone by beating Niger by 75 runs and Kogi State by 9 wickets on day 1. Despite their automatic qualification slot as host of the finals, FCT made sure of the results by beating plateau by 151 runs to qualify as 1st position in the North Central zone.

Niger State became runners up in North central after beating Plateau State by 54 runs on day 3. Notable bowling effort saw Eunice Sunday with a 7 wicket haul to ensure a spot in the finals for Niger State.

South West

Host Oyo State had a more easy qualification process as they had to navigate against a highly young and inexperienced Osun State team. Osun State managed a total of 23 runs with Oyo State scoring the total in just 16 balls ensuring a 10 wicket victory and qualification spot for the finals in Abuja.

South East

Enugu State defeated Ebonyi State by 6 wickets and also Anambra State defeated Ebonyi State by 7 wickets in day 1 setting up a mouthwatering finale between Enugu State and Anambra State on day 2.

Enugu State showed resilience in a keenly contested match with Anambra State but Anambra displayed the value of experience as they managed a 10 runs victory on day 2 to book their place in the finals in Abuja.

 

GROUP PHOTOGRAPHS OF TEAMS THAT HAVE QUALIFIED