Edo State wins National Men's Championship, beats Kaduna in the final.

*EDO STATE IS CHAMPION OF NATIONAL MEN’S TOURNAMENT, BEATS KADUNA STATE IN THE FINAL*

Curtain falls on the NCF National Men’s Championship in Benin City, but not without its thrills, upsets and wonderful display of proper Cricket by all teams involved. Kaduna State sought immediate revenge on the day with the finals of the National Under-17 Championship still fresh in their hearts when they lost to Edo State.

Considered a bowler’s tournament by many, some beautifully carved half centuries was witnessed in batting including one from Akhere Isesele of Edo state in the finals and Isaac Okpe in the semi-final against Lagos State.

Edo State won the toss and elected to bat as they have done all through the tournament. Grafting their innings carefully, the team was poised to hit the double century mark when they were 135 runs for 4 wickets with 15 overs to spare. Kaduna State dug deep and fought back to crumble the middle and tail-end of the Edo bating line up to leave them with just 165 runs all out in 45.1 overs.

Akhere Isesele scored 56 runs off 77 balls, supported by Selim Salau with 26 runs off 61 balls as the best batting efforts from team Edo.

Joel Joseph of Kaduna State got 4 wickets, conceding 23 runs in 8 overs, while Sylvester Okpe got 3 wickets, conceding 28 runs in 10 overs.

In the second innings, Kaduna lost their hitman, Gershon Yusuf in the first over which led to a slow start to building their innings, Kaduna state struggled to form a decent partnership as only Isaac Okpe survived the onslaughts of the Edo bowling attack. Kaduna State eventually was restricted to a total score of 108 runs all out in 35.1 overs.

Isaac Okpe scored 33 runs off 60 balls as the best bating figures for Kaduna State

Eghosa Aghedo got 3 wickets, conceding 25 runs in 10 overs for team Edo

Eghosa Aghedo was named player of the match

*Result: Edo State won by 57 runs and crowned champions.*