It was a debut appearance for 15-year-old Lilian Ude, who wore the country’s colours for the senior women’s cricket team at the just-concluded Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) Women’s T20 Invitational in Lagos.
Ude featured in all of Nigeria’s five matches at the tournament, winning player of the match awards twice, with her eight wickets, three maidens and a hattrick in the game against Ghana.
It was a pleasant outing for the medium-pace bowler, who showed class in her handling of the ball. But the teenager says she still has more to offer. Ude says she looks forward to becoming the team’s captain in future.
“I am really excited about my performance in this tournament. I have developed more confidence and I feel that I have improved my game as well.
“I see myself bowling more accurately and fielding better than I used to. Though I made a few errors during the competition, I will learn from them and become better.
“The level of training we were exposed to in camp really helped me at the Invitational and I am sure that if I can get more of that, I will be a better player.
“I look forward to getting more invitations in future and hopefully become the team’s captain,’’ Ude, who was the Best Behaved Player of the Tournament, added.
