Captain of Nigeria senior ladies’s cricket group, Blessing Etim, has retired from the Feminine Yellow Greens after main the group to a historic bronze medal on the ongoing 2023 African Video games in Ghana, the place the group defied the chances because the lowest-ranked aspect on the match, PUNCH Sports activities Further reviews.
She performed 63 T20i matches for the nation.
Etim began enjoying cricket as a pupil in 2004 and earned her first Feminine Yellow Greens name up in 2011 whereas her first T20i recreation for Nigeria was in January 26, 2019 towards Rwanda in Abuja.
Her final task for Nigeria was the five-wicket win over Uganda on Wednesday on the thirteenth African Video games in Ghana, the place cricket was additionally performed for the primary time within the Video games’ historical past.
The 31-year-old introduced her retirement after Nigeria shocked Uganda by 5 wickets to win the third-place match. She was given a guard of honour by her teammates and officers of the Nigeria Cricket Federation, together with the president Uyi Akpata, after the sport.
In December 2023, she reached a document 50 caps for the Feminine Yellow Greens towards Namibia through the 2024 Ladies’s T20 World Cup qualifiers in Uganda. She has now added 13 appearances to take her caps to 63.
In her five-year spell enjoying T20i video games for Nigeria, the group gained the maiden Nigeria Cricket Federation Ladies’s T20i invitational match in 2019 earlier than she led them to their second title in 2023.
A few of her particular person T20i document embody the most effective bowling analyses in an innings (conceding three runs and getting two wickets in 1.1 overs) towards Gambia in 2022, finest financial system charge in an innings and most maidens in an innings (4 in 4 overs), which she set towards Cameroon in 2021.
Etim’s fast focus might be on teaching in her house state, the place she was posted to in 2014 by the NCF and has been doubling as a participant and growth officer.
The state presently has a goal of discovering 30,000 abilities after they got new cricket apply nets, which had been donated by PET Basis on the playground of Neighborhood Secondary Business Faculty, Ibiaku Itam final yr.
