National cricket team players now on contract, Federation official says

The Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) has given out contracts to its national team players to improve the quality of play.

Taiwo Oriss, secretary-general of the NCF, said this at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the federation on Sunday in Abuja.

Oriss said the idea was to model the country’s style of play after that of countries such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, and others that are top cricket-playing African countries.

“One of the strategic plans the council has agreed upon is to see how we can get the maximum output from our players—how to get them to give more to the game.

“The council resolved that approval be given to the board to pay allowances to the players as a way of contracting them.

“We signed players into the national team and we placed them on salary, and that has taken effect since November 2022. It is just that this AGM is ratifying that decision today.

“But I think it’s one step that will go on to help the board achieve its desired results in terms of participation, terms of promotion, and output,” he said.

The NCF official also added that the contract was only for the men’s senior team at the moment, with plans underway to get contracts for the other teams.

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“This is the first phase, and we are starting with the male national team. We have divided the team into two groups: team A and team B.

“We are considering only Team A, who are the first team players, for the contracts now.

“This is just like a test approach for us to get the desired result for the federation. I can tell you that we just want to start from where we are.

“Hopefully, before the end of the year, most likely in the first or second quarter, I am sure that the board will take things to the next level and involve the women and other teams as well,” Oriss added.

NAN