The Sierra Leone Cricket Association (SLCA) has commenced the year 2022 with fortitudeto roll out activities lined up for the days, weeks, and months ahead.
According to SLCA Media and Communications Department,the year 2022 has been described by motivated cricket authorities as a year of wins, year of unity that defines the trajectory to grace, a year of combined strength and a year to kiss gold trophies in cross-border outings.
Mid-January this year, media officers attached to SLCA had an interface with experts from Nigeria through webinar, discussing strategies beneficial to the marketing of cricket in Sierra Leone with the view to access fund outside ICC income. That effort lasted for a few hours.
In Late January, the ICC announced that the Sierra Leone Under-19 Women side had qualified to participate in the ICC Under-19 Women’s World Cup Africa Division 1 Qualifier scheduled for August through December 2022.
The country’s Under-19 Women’s side booked straight ticket to the division 1, with double promotion owing to supreme women’s youth league structure. And Sierra Leone happens to be the only North-West African representative in this segment of the World Cup Qualifier.
By the close of January, the Ladies Patriots of Sierra Leone had intensified training ahead of the Nigeria Cricket Federation Women’s T20 International Tournament scheduled for March in Lagos this year.
For the Lagos showpiece, Sierra Leone will face Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda in their first cross-border tourney for the year 2022. The tournament itself will be hosted at the recently refurbished Tawafa Balewa Square (TBS) Cricket oval in Lagos.
The beginning of February 2022 was greeted by the hosting of the first 6v6 Criiio Festival held at the National Stadium Basketball Court on the weekend. This outdoor effort brought together over one hundred and fifty participants (boys and girls) excluding managers, scorers, and organizers.
In three weeks’ time, SLCA will commence its youth league for both men and women to fire a new orbiter in the line of more homeward wins. This is among many activities set for this year.