TheCable

The women’s T20i invitational tournament gets underway on Monday at the Tafawa Balewa Square Lagos cricket oval, with Access Bank emerging as a major sponsor.

Speaking on Sunday, Uyi Akpata, president of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), said the partnership demonstrated the federation’s vision which is aimed at driving the inclusion goal for the female gender to a new height in the sport.

“We are glad that a brand like Access Bank finds what we are doing as a good avenue to express its women’s empowerment agenda and connect with the broader African communities where it operates. It is a win-win for all parties, but more importantly as a federation I am very glad that we can reach more people with our goal,” Akpata said.

The NCF president described the partnership as an expression of the growing interest from top firms for cricket involving the female gender.

“We have a growing number of female cricketers, the biggest we have had in the history of the sport and it is driven by our renewed developmental agenda. This particular event underscores the pattern we have drawn as well as the path we have chosen,” he also said.

Amaechi Okobi, the group head, corporate communication of Access Bank, said the bank found an alignment between its values and the cricket federation’s programmes.

“As a pan-African institution, we always get excited when we see opportunities to connect with more of our clients across the continent. There are five African countries converging for this invitational and two common things here are cricket and our bank,” Okobi said.

The women cricketers from Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Rwanda arrived in Lagos on Saturday.

The teams also had practice rounds on Sunday ahead of the start of the week-long tournament on Monday.

Host Nigeria and Sierra Leone will open the tournament on day 1, while Ghana and Rwanda will take to the turf later in the day.