Captain of Nigeria’s U19 Cricket team Sylvester Okpe believes the Junior Yellow Greens’ can match three-time champions Australia when both teams take to the Diamond Oval in Kimberly at the ongoing ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa.
The U19 cricket team emerged through two African qualifying tournaments unbeaten to become the first Nigerian side to qualify for a global cricket event.
They are now set to make their debut on the global stage against the Aussies with the match bowling off at 9 am on Monday.
Though Australia lost their opening game against Group B opponents the West Indies on Friday, they have incredible pedigree at this level with India the only country with more titles at this level.
Okpe who also doubles as the vice-captain of the senior side understands the stature of Australia as a global cricket superpower but is unfazed.
The captain of the Junior Yellow Greens believes that if they stick to the basics and perform the mundane tasks as well as they should, they would stand a very good chance against the Aussies.
“Our expectations as a team is actually to go compete and show the world that we know how to play cricket do the little bits and if the little bits fall into place properly, the end game will speak for itself,” Okpe said ahead of the match.
“We know Australia are a good cricketing country and on paper they are really good, but we just want to go play to the best of our ability as a team and see what comes out of it.”
Former champions England and the West Indies play each other in the group’s other game.
