Zaahier Adams
Former Proteas Men’s national team assistant coach Vincent Barnes believes the passion for cricket in Nigeria is “immense” and the African nation will only grow from strength-to-strength.
The Nigeria Under-19 Women’s team sent shockwaves through the global cricket fraternity last week when they beat their New Zealand counterparts at the ICC U19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia.
It is the first time a Nigerian national team – men and women – have competed at an ICC World Cup in any format. Their historic victory was splashed all over the front pages of the local newspapers back in Nigeria.
Barnes, who is currently heading up Schools SA20 and is the former head of cricket at SA’s High Performance, spent three weeks last year along with former Proteas batter Ashwell Prince in Lagos, under the auspices of the Nigerian Cricket Federation, in helping the respective national teams prepare for the All Africa Games.
A large component of the women’s senior team are the girls competing in Malaysia.
“I was asked to assist the national women’s team who were set to play a quadrangular while we were there. There were also two girls that I helped with their actions,” Barnes exclusively told Independent Media.
“The one was actually Lillian Udeh, she batted at No 3 against New Zealand. So, while it was the national senior team playing, there were quite a number of Under-19 girls playing in the team.
“The captain Lucky Piety and there’s the opening bowler Usen Peace. She was only 15 years old and bowls leggies. She’s a proper bowler. I remember telling her "if you can land three balls on the right spot, you are going to take a lot of wickets.”
Peace did indeed pick up the wicket of New Zealand opener Emma McCleod to finish with figures of 1/5 from her two overs.
The Nigerian victory over the Kiwis is certainly a massive fillip for the growth of the women’s game on the African continent, particularly due to the lack of infrastructure outside the major nations such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Kenya.
Barnes was, however, impressed with the work ethic of everyone involved in the game in Nigeria.
“There is a huge passion for the game in Nigeria – both men and women. There was a turf wicket in the middle which we used everyday which was good, but the nets itself are a couple of concrete and turfs which are very over used. They basically turn square.
“But the most interesting thing about the place was when we got there they took me across to a field on the other side and said this is where we are going to build our indoor centre. By the time we left after three weeks, the entire indoor centre was done.
“So, that just shows everyone involved in Nigerian cricket is pulling in the same direction and wants to make things work and get their teams to be successful.”
The Nigerians have an almighty clash on Wednesday against their South African counterparts, who are unbeaten after two matches in Malaysia. Barnes knows the South African team well having set up their pathways before his retirement from Cricket SA 18 months ago.
He feels the clash may be a bridge too far for the Nigerians, but cricket remains a funny old game.
“The South African team is a really strong side. I’ve coached some of the girls individually too,” Barnes said.
“But as we’ve seen there’s been a lot of rain around in Malaysia. A lot of the games have been shortened to five-six-seven over matches. That automatically brings teams closer. All the conditions can be tricky if there is weather about.
“It’s just great to see two African teams competing against each other in a (U19) Women’s World Cup.”