Nigeria National Cricket Teams

Checked 29 September 2026

The men’s Yellow Greens

Captained by Sylvester Okpe and coached since 2022 by Kenya’s former captain Steve Tikolo, the men played their first T20 international against Kenya on 20 May 2019 and replaced the suspended Zimbabwe at the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE. In November 2024 they won Africa Sub-regional Qualifier C at home in Lagos, where Selim Salau hit 112 against Ivory Coast in a national-record 271 for 4, and they went on to the 2025 Africa Regional Final in Zimbabwe. In December 2024 they were runners-up to Uganda at the ILT20 Continent Cup in Kigali.

The women’s team

Nigeria’s women made their international debut at the 2011 ICC Africa Women’s T20 tournament in Uganda and played their first T20 international against Rwanda in Abuja on 26 January 2019, winning the five-match series 3-2.

The youth teams and the World Cups

Nigeria’s first World Cup came at youth level, when Sylvester Okpe captained the boys to the 2020 ICC Under-19 World Cup. In January 2025 the girls went one better, beating New Zealand at the U19 Women’s T20 World Cup in Malaysia, one of the great upsets in youth cricket.

Checked 30 September 2026

Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games and African Games

Cricket has been played at the Commonwealth Games only twice (men in 1998, women’s T20 in 2022), and Nigeria has not taken part. Cricket joined the African Games in Accra, and Nigeria’s women won bronze in the first tournament. Nigeria did not enter a men’s team.

The next African Games are in Cairo, Egypt, from 20 January to 7 February 2027. See the full medal stories on our Commonwealth Games and African Games pages.