THIS is the biggest day in the lives of the Nigerian players battling in Botswana for a place in the World Cricket League (WCL) Division Six. The boys have been magnificent since the WCL Division Seven play-offs began on May 1, but all their efforts could come to naught after this single game against the hosts, Botswana.A win will see Nigeria qualifying for the final game of this championship and at the same time getting a ticket to play in the higher level; but if the unthinkable happened the boys would remain in the seventh tier of the league for another two years.This is a scenario the Endurance Ofem-led team is not contemplating. To the boys, having come thus far, only victory over the hosts would do. That is no matter what the boys from Botswana throw at them.Nigeria is currently second on the log with six points, same as leaders, Kuwait, and third-placed Botswana. So a win today will guarantee the boys second place as only a major miracle will see Japan overcoming Kuwait in one of the other games this morning.This championship has thrown some unexpected results that have made it impossible for anyone to predict the outcome of any particular game. But then, beating Japan should be a routine task for Kuwait because the Patrick Giles-Jones led Nippon has proved incapable of holding their own against teams at this level.So Nigerias hope of retaining the second spot lies in beating the Botswana, as anything short of that will hand the hosts the second position. And this, team captain, Ofem, says will not happen.Ofem, who still sees the loss to Kuwait as a minor setback, believes his side has what it takes to beat Botswana.The 28-year-old is confident that the hard work the side has put in will be truly beneficial for todays game, adding, we have been working to correct the lapses we noticed in our game against Kuwait. Now, we know what this game against Botswana will do for us, so we will go all out to win.We have been working hard as a unit, and I am happy the guys are hitting good form here. I feel we have a chance because the team is in good form and with the conditions in Gaborone, which suits us, Botswana will not enjoy much home advantage over us.He is buoyed by the performance of some of the new members of the team, who played major roles in the victorious over Norway, Germany and Japan.Norway played in Division six before dropping to this level, but they did not prove nearly as tough as I had expected. But we lost more wickets against them than I expected because we should have ended the game only two batsmen down.Germany defeated Kuwait, a team that beat us and Botswana; so it shows that we have to be at our best to beat the home team, especially since like us they lost only one game to Kuwait, he said.If Nigeria wins todays game, it will be among the sides going to Malaysia for the Division Six play-off, and Ofem believes the dream is achievable, saying, We know now our game against Botswana is crucial especially since Germany beat Kuwait.From what I have seen of them, I know what is expected of us, especially our bowlers because we have to get everything right this time. It is a team game and the all the parts must work seamlessly for us to succeed.Ofem is also particularly proud of the teams development and the way the side is made up of a number of players who have come through the development system created by the Nigeria Cricket Federation.Ofem commented: The Nigeria Cricket Federation over the last 15 years has taken grassroots development as a key objective in its overall development plan. If we look through the beginning of the U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifiers when we first participated as West Africa, Nigeria provided nine of the 13 players that represented West Africa in Uganda in 2001.If you then look at the later tournaments when we played as Nigeria from the U19 CWCQ in Namibia in 2003 and onwards you will see similar names such as myself, Adekunle Adegbola, Tope Olayinka, Akabogu Emmanuel Okwudili, Onikoyi Ademola, Olajide Bejide, Joshua Ogunlola, Segun Olayinka and recently Saheed Akolade. To me this illustrates the belief the Board has had in developing the youth in the sideall you have to do is take a look at the current side and most of the players have been around from a young age.He believes the likes of Okwudili, among others, are also key to the side doing well today, saying: Emmanuel is key to me as a captain and the county in our mission. Every member of this team has the ability to take games away from the opponent and Im glad to have a team like this. Im sure some of the countries in this tournament will be wondering about who are the key players for Nigeria - but there are three they should already be aware of in the form of Oluseye Olympio, Adekunle Adegbola and Emmanuel Okwudili.The Nigerian team carefully followed the other teams preparations before this championship and Ofem is not surprised that his team is doing better than it did two years ago.We followed carefully the proceedings in WCL Div. 6, Norway was beaten in the fifth/sixth play-off by Botswana while Kuwait won WCL Div. 8 and Germany came second. We have played Germany, Norway and Kuwait, and now we are meeting Botswana is this important game, and we are ready.Also speaking on Nigerias chances, Coach/Player, Sean Phillips, who has been instrumental to the countrys outstanding performance in this competition, says the team has no intention of faltering against Botswana today.Although he acknowledges Botswana as a strong opposition, Phillips says, we know what to expect in this game, and we are ready.The boys have been wonderful since we came here and I expect the best from the team. That does not mean we are underrating Botswana because they have shown that they are tough team. But we are hopeful, he said.
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