Billed to begin their Africa Division 2 Qualifier of the ICC U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup against Kenya at the MKO Abiola Stadium Package B’ Abuja Cricket Oval, Ghana sadly misses out on the 10-day tournament, as the team couldn’t travel to Abuja.
According to the Cricket Operations Officer (COO), Prince Eugene King, travel certificate for some players were denied by the Immigration.
“Ghana used Travel Certificate, due to the general shortage of passport. It was issued by the ICC and accepted by Nigeria Authority but the airline informed us, that the Nigeria Immigration Service says, they won’t accept the travel certificate. All these happened when the rest of the team went to check in. Later, we were informed by the Nigerian immigration to travel with ECOWAS Pass/Card and at that time, there was little we could do.”
Earlier, the captain of the side, Paul Ayoleyine, the coach, Francis Bakiweyem and another player, Ariz Sood went ahead to Abuja, waiting for the rest of the team that couldn’t secure passports but depended on Travel certificates.
It is a big blow to Ghana, who were paired in group A, together with Mozambique and Malawi, with their game against Kenya, scheduled for this morning (9:30am), canceled by the organisers.
The 50 over tournament will see the first two in the group qualify for the semifinals, scheduled for Friday, October 7, with the finals and 3rd place pegged at Saturday, October 8, 2022.
Paul Ayoleyine scored the highest runs in a game (99*/90), against Lesotho, while Ghana’s total score, 337-7 was also the highest in the entire tournament in Potchefstroom, South Africa in 2018, as Ghana finished 3rd in their group.
Group B of the division 2 qualifiers has host Nigeria, who defeated Rwanda on Friday, together with Botswana, and Sierra Leone.
