8-year-old dazzles, makes history at cricket tourney

Eight-year-old Esther Martins is the youngest player to ever feature in  the finals of the national Under 17 Cricket championship.

The Jigawa player is representing North West at the cricket event, organised by the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF) and sponsored by Pricewaterhouse Coopers ( PwC).

Martins, who is making her debut at the event, started playing the game two years ago, featured in the team’s first game against South South.

She was the last wicket in the game after being caught by Tochukwu Nweke of South South in the second innings.

Earlier, South South won the toss and opted to bat. They scored 143 runs for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs in the first innings.

The second innings saw the defending champions South South needing only 4.3 overs to defeat North West. North West scored eight runs, all wicket out in the game.

After the match, an emotional Martins, said she was happy to be making a debut.

” I am happy to be here, though am sad that I couldn’t help my team but am sure we can do better in our next game” Martins said.

Samson Simon, coach of the team, appreciated Martins effort adding that she would improve her level of play with time.

“Martins is a good player and she’s ready to learn, she will get better with time.

“Today, we lost our first game to a very experienced team. We hope to win our second game against North East tomorrow,” Simon added.

The championship which began on Wednesday is expected to end on Sunday