Peter Aho and Sylvester Okpe claimed the accolades by winning the individual awards as Nigeria won the Bilateral T-20 Cricket Series with Sierra Leone 5-1.
Aho bagged the series’ best player and bowler awards while Okpe won the series’ most valuable player award which ended on Tuesday at the University of Lagos Cricket Ovals.
Both players won a trophy each in the tournament, in addition to Aho receiving 200 dollars (about N113,000) for his feat and Okpe receiving 300 dollars (about N169,500).
Aho had in the fifth match of the six-match series registered the best bowling figures of an innings with six wickets, five runs and one maiden in 3.4 overs.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the closing match of the series saw the Nigerian team beating the visitors by 36 runs in 20 overs to lift the overall trophy.
While speaking at the closing ceremony, the President of Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Uyi Akpata, said the series between Nigeria and Sierra Leone has a deeper import.
“This series goes beyond the activities on the cricket pitch,” he said.
Akpata noted that Nigeria are presently the best-ranked team in the continent’s West and North Africa region, saying it would not augur well if their neighbours were lagging behind.
“This series, apart from helping the two teams shape up for the forthcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Africa T20 Qualifier later in the year, also offers grounds for both bodies to impact on each other’s growth,” he said.
The NCF president disclosed that the Nigerian team had already reached the finals of the qualifying series in Rwanda.
He however added that Sierra Leone would need to pick a slot for the final round from a pre-event scheduled to start from Tuesday in Kigali.
“NCF has, among other things, agreed to help the Sierra Leone Cricket Association to raise the standard of their playing turf to the current turf wicket being played in Nigeria, as well as donate developmental kits that will help their team a lot,” Akpata said.
He pointed out that having good competitive neighbours gives Nigeria and the region a good cricket development atmosphere.
“This has forced Nigeria to maintain some standards. This also helps us to get easy sparring partners for shape-up matches, among other things.
“Ghana and Sierra Leone have kept Nigeria on their toes in the region and it would be nice to have them (Ghana and Sierra Leone) get to our level for the growth of the game in the region,” the NCF president said.
NAN reports that the Nigerian team will depart for a training tour in Zimbabwe from where they will proceed to the Africa T20 Qualifier which begins on Nov. 17 in Kigali.(NAN).
