- Receives ICC award
- Council retains ODI format, finalises FTP – ICC boss
President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation(NCF), Uyi Akpata, on Wednesday, July 27, joined representatives from other nations to attend the annual conference of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Akpata will by this means contribute extensively to issues affecting cricket sport including the One-Day International format (ODI) and Future Tours Programme (FTP) 2023-27.
According to the NCF Public Relations Officer, Musa Bodie, the President was accompanied by the federation’s General Manager, Emeka Igwilo, where they officially received the award, ICC Cricket 4Good Social Impact Initiative.
Recall that early last month, the ICC in recognition of NCF programmes directed towards grooming and providing aid to internally displaced persons, awarded Nigeria the ICC Cricket 4Good Social Impact Initiative.
The programme saw coaches deployed to these restive areas to help engage and develop the grassroots, who were victims of the crises, in cricket sport as well as avail them humanitarian relief.
“With a couple of thousand introduced to the game, and a boys and girls team involved in the State’s secondary schools’ tournament, we have seen cricket largely contributing to addressing the issues of integration and inclusion of disadvantaged children in the country,” Akpata said after the recognition in June.
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“On behalf of the almost 2,000 students in the Benin IDP Camp and two million children in various camps, we accept this special recognition,” he acknowledged.
Meanwhile, ICC have retained the ODI format despite the appeal from different stakeholders that it should be abolished.
At the Birmingham conference on Wednesday, the world governing council said the ODI format will be played in the 2023-2027 cycle.
English cricketer Ben strokes, who is the captain of the England national team, said his retirement from 50-overs tourneys was because it was unsustainable following the cramped T20 calendar schedule.
Also, South Africa pull out from the ODI tour of Australia early July after it clashed with the launch of its domestic league which reportedly, has increased their chances to qualify for the World Cup next year in India.
To clarify the issues bedevilling the sport, including the ODI tours, the ICC Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Allardice, said the council have reviewed all mixed formats in the calendar.
The council also finalised issues regarding the Future Tours Programme (FTP) 2023-2027
“I think at this stage there is some discussion, not specifically about ODIs, but about the mix of formats within the calendar,”
“Countries have been, in their FTPs, are still scheduling a healthy number of ODIs as well.
“So in the FTP, I don’t think you’ll see any significant change to the number of ODIs or the proportion of ODIs as being planned,”
Specifically, the award received in Birmingham by NCF President and General Manager Uyi Akpata and Emeka Igwilo respectively was in recognition of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Special Intervention programme launched in Benin City, Edo State.
