The Nigeria national cricket team is the men's team that represents the country of Nigeria in international cricket. Cricket has been played in Nigeria since the late 19th century, and the national team played their first match in 1904, when a team representing the Lagos Colony played the Gold Coast Colony.Encyclopedia of World Cricket by Roy Morgan, Sportsbooks Publishing, 2007 The Nigeria Cricket Association, formed in 1932 and at first was composed only of expats. One year later. in 1933, an organization of indigenous players was formed. Nigeria has been an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 2002.Nigeria at CricketArchive
History
Early years
Cricket has been played in Nigeria since the late 19th century when the game was introduced by the British. English missionaries and army personnel further spread the sport.Contacts between the administration in Lagos and their counterparts in Gold Coast (now Ghana) led to an international at Race Course (now Tafawa Balewa Square), Lagos on 25 May 1904, the Gold Coast winning by 22 runs.
The match became an annual fixture and for the first three matches was multi-racial. The fourth fixture in December 1906 was for Europeans only, and the African population started their own annual fixture in 1907. Internationals stopped for the First World War, and did not restart until the mid-1920s.
Between the two world wars, cricket began to become more formally organised in the country with two cricket associations for the Europeans and Africans being formed in 1932 and 1933 respectively. First-class cricketers from England began to appear in the annual matches against Gold Coast, and the 1939 match, the last before World War II, ended in a 58-run win for the Gold Coast.Scorecard of Gold Coast v Nigeria, 22 March 1939 at Cricinfo
Matches resumed after the war with a five-day match in Lagos in 1947 which ended in a draw.Scorecard of Nigeria v Gold Coast, 18 March 1947 at CricketArchive The 1949 match went the way of the Gold Coast.Scorecard of Nigeria v Gold Coast, 6 April 1949 As the number of Europeans working in the country reduced, the quality of the African players increased and cricket began to be organised on multi-racial lines in 1956.
Post independence
Following Nigeria's independence in 1960, there was much interest in cricket. Annual matches against Sierra Leone and The Gambia began in 1964, and were evenly contested until the late 1970s, when football began to become more popular in the country. Cricket began a process of decline, and when Tanzania toured in 1974, Nigeria lost two of the three matches and drew the other. They also lost heavily to the MCC in 1976. Internal problems with both the Nigeria Cricket Association and in Nigeria itself led to a decline in standards, though Nigeria formed a majority of the players on the West Africa cricket team that became an ICC associate member in 1976.West Africa at CricketArchive
The West Africa team took part in the ICC Trophy tournaments of 1982 and 1997 before withdrawing from the 2001 tournament in Ontario.List of West Africa ICC Trophy matches at CricketArchive Nigeria still continued to play on their own on occasion, though they sometimes withdrew from tournaments, as at the 1998 Africa Cricket Association Championship.Group list includes Nigeria, but final standings do not. The West African Cricket Conference ceased to exist in 2002, and Nigeria became an associate member of the ICC in their own right the same year.
ICC membership
Nigeria's first tournament after becoming an ICC member on their own was the 2002 Africa Cup in Zambia. Nigeria finished fourth in their group after their only win of the tournament against Malawi.2002 Africa Cup at CricketEurope They finished 5th in the Africa Cricket Association Championships in 2004, their only win coming against the last-placed Tanzania, thus failing to qualify for the 2005 ICC Trophy.Africa qualifying , 2005 ICC Trophy official website
In August 2006, Nigeria took part in Division Two of the World Cricket League Africa Region in Tanzania,WCL Africa Division Two at CricketArchive finishing last.WCL Africa Division Two Points Table at CricketArchive This originally relegated them to Division Three, though they are not playing in that tournament in 2008.2008 Africa Division Three Championship at CricketEurope They won the North West Africa Championship in 20072007 North West Africa Championship at CricketEurope and 2008.North West Africa Championship at CricketEurope Nigeria played in Division Two of the World Cricket League Africa Region in 2008 and came second hence qualifying for 2009 ICC World Cricket League Division Seven. They came 3rd in the tournament thus remaining in the division . In May 2011 Nigeria participated in the 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Seven in Botswana. Nigeria came second in tournament, thus qualifying for 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Six. Then the team went to South Africa in May 2011 to participate in 2011 ICC Africa Division Two (T20) en route to qualification of 2012 ICC World Twenty20. They won the tournament and qualified for 2011 ICC Africa Division One.
In August 2018, they were included in the 2018 Africa T20 Cup tournament.
2018–present In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 International (T20I) status to all its members. Therefore, all Twenty20 matches played between Nigeria and other ICC members since 1 January 2019 have the T20I status. Nigeria's first T20I match was against Kenya on 20 May 2019, after finishing second in the North-Western sub-region qualification group, advancing to the Regional Final of the 2018–19 ICC World Twenty20 Africa Qualifier tournament.
In July 2019, the ICC suspended Zimbabwe Cricket, with the team barred from taking part in ICC events. As a result of their suspension, the ICC confirmed that Nigeria would replace them in the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament.
Grounds The 2,000-capacity Tafawa Balewa Square Oval in Lagos is the largest cricket stadium in Nigeria.
Tournament history
T20 World Cup Africa Regional Final T20 World Cup Africa Regional Final recordYearRoundPositionGPWLTNR 2019Round-robin (A)3/652102 2021Round-robin4/460600 2022Round-robin5/761401 2025Play-offs6/852300 Total4/40 Title 2251403 A – Advanced to Global Qualifier. Q – Qualified for T20 World Cup.
Other tournaments T20 World Cup Qualifier (T20I) World Cricket League (List A/ODI) WCL Africa Region (List A) T20WC Africa Sub-regional Qualifiers (T20I) 2019: 14th place2009: 3rd place (Division Seven) 2011: 2nd place (Division Seven) 2011: 5th place (Division Six) 2013: 1st place (Division Seven) 2013: 2nd place (Division Six) 2014: 4th place (Division Five) 2016: 6th place (Division Five)2006: 5th place (Division Two) 2011: 1st place (Division Two) (T20) 2018 (North-West): Runners-up — Advanced 2021: Did not participate 2022: Runners-up — Advanced 2024: Winners — Advanced
Records and statistics
International Match Summary — Nigeria
Last updated 27 September 2026 Playing Record Format M W L T NR Inaugural Match Twenty20 Internationals 100 51 47 0 2 20 May 2019
Twenty20 International Highest team total: 271/4 v. Ivory Coast on 24 November 2024 at Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval, Lagos. Highest individual score: 112, Selim Salau v. Ivory Coast on 24 November 2024 at Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval, Lagos. Best individual bowling figures: 6/5, Peter Aho v. Sierra Leone on 24 October 2021 at University of Lagos Cricket Oval, Lagos.
Most T20I runs for Nigeria PlayerRunsAverageCareer spanSulaimon Runsewe 1,455 20.78 2019–2026Isaac Danladi 1,398 25.88 2019–2026Selim Salau 908 23.28 2024–2026Isaac Okpe 838 13.73 2019–2026Sylvester Okpe 828 16.23 2019–2026
Most T20I wickets for Nigeria PlayerWicketsAverageCareer spanIsaac Okpe 84 19.77 2019–2026Sylvester Okpe 72 18.61 2019–2026Peter Aho 71 17.12 2021–2026Ridwan Abdulkareem 60 13.26 2021–2025Prosper Useni 52 17.96 2021–2025
T20I record versus other nations
Records complete to T20I #4150. Last updated 27 September 2026. Opponent M W L T NR First match First win v. Full members 1 0 1 0 0 26 October 2019 1 0 1 0 0 29 November 2023 vs Associate Members 6 5 1 0 0 21 May 2019 21 May 2019 1 1 0 0 0 5 December 2022 5 December 2022 1 0 1 0 0 21 October 2019 2 2 0 0 0 4 December 2022 4 December 2022 1 1 0 0 0 4 December 2022 4 December 2022 7 7 0 0 0 22 May 2019 22 May 2019 3 0 3 0 0 27 October 2019 1 1 0 0 0 24 November 2024 24 November 2024 1 0 1 0 0 19 October 2019 15 3 12 0 0 20 May 2019 16 September 2021 1 1 0 0 0 26 September 2025 26 September 2025 5 1 4 0 0 30 November 2023 18 March 2024 1 0 1 0 0 23 October 2019 1 1 0 0 0 1 December 2022 1 December 2022 12 9 2 0 1 4 October 2023 4 October 2023 1 1 0 0 0 23 November 2024 23 November 2024 15 14 1 0 0 19 October 2021 20 October 2021 5 1 3 0 1 17 November 2021 26 November 2023 13 0 13 0 0 21 September 2021 3 0 3 0 0 24 October 2019 3 3 0 0 0 4 December 2025 4 December 2025
Other First Class records
Performances by Nigerian cricketers in World Cricket League since 2009
Current playersNameMatchesRunsWickets Dotun Olatunji 18 599 0 Kunle Adegbola 34 588 33 Endurance Ofem 32 521 15 Ademola Onikoyi 34 502 1 Ricky Sharma 16 284 0 Segun Olayinka 29 584 0 Olajide Bejide 31 556 9 Joshua Ogunlola 29 124 44 Oluseye Olympio 27 154 29 Ositadinma Onwuzulike 18 127 10 Chimezie Onwuzulike 12 85 11 Saheed Akolade 31 98 48 Emmanuel Okwudili 20 351 0 Leke Oyede 10 84 5 Former playersNameMatchesRunsWickets Sean Phillips 13 386 14 Wale Adeoye 6 51 5 Femi Oduyebo 3 19 5 Ayo Mene Ejegi 4 25 4 Ramit Gill 13 203 8 Oluwaseun Odeku 7 55 3 Varun Behani 6 50 3 Haruna Thomas 2 3 1 Sesan Adedeji 3 29 1 Olalekan Awolowo 7 104 5 Joshua Ayannaike 1 6 0 Temitope Olayinka 4 12
Highest Scores+
Dotun Olatunji – 127 vs Ghana at BCA Oval No. 1, Gaborone on 7 April 2013
Dotun Olatunji – 125* vs Botswana at BCA Oval No. 2, Gaborone on 9 April 2013
Olajide Bejide – 106 vs Tanzania at Royal Selangor Club, Kuala Lumpur on 13 March 2014
Segun Olayinka – 94* vs Argentina at Grainville, St Saviour on 28 July 2013
Endurance Ofem – 90 vs Cayman Islands at Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur on 9 March 2014
Best bowling figures
Oluseye Olympio – 6/23 vs Argentina at Grainville, St Saviour on 28 July 2013
Saheed Akolade – 6/27 vs Bahrain at Farmers CC, St Martin on 25 July 2013
Joshua Ogunlola – 5/28 vs Botswana at BCA Oval No. 2, Gaborone on 9 April 2013
Joshua Ogunlola – 5/34 vs Germany at BCA Oval No. 2, Gaborone on 12 April 2013
Olajide Bejide – 4/20 vs Kuwait at BCA Oval No. 1, Gaborone on 8 May 2011
Highest team total: 397/7 declared v Gold Coast, 1932. Highest individual score: 166 by E Henshaw v Ghana, 1982 and by B Olufawo v Ghana, 2001. Best bowling: 7/65 by WS King v Gold Coast, 1952.
Current squad
This lists all the players who have played for Nigeria in the past 12 months or has been part of the latest T20I squad. Updated as of 15 October 2023.
Name Age Batting style Bowling style Notes Batters Sesan Adedeji Right-handed Right-arm off break Akhere Isesele Right-handed Isaac Danladi Right-handed Right-arm leg break Vice-captain Daniel Ajekun Right-handed Right-arm off break Selim Salau Right-handed Ali Rahmon Right-handed All-rounder Isaac Okpe Right-handed Right-arm medium Wicket-keeper Sulaimon Runsewe Right-handed Right-arm off break Spin Bowlers Ridwan Abdulkareem Right-handed Right-arm off break Sylvester Okpe Right-handed Right-arm off break Captain Joshua Asia Right-handed Right-arm off break Pace Bowlers Peter Aho Right-handed Right-arm medium Chiemelie Udekwe Right-handed Right-arm medium Prosper Useni Left-handed Left-arm medium Mohameed Taiwo Left-handed Left-arm medium
Players The following players have represented Nigeria internationally and also played first-class cricket:
Henry Savory – played for Gloucestershire in 1937.Henry Savory at CricketArchive