Mataboge tips Nigeria for success

Talents abound in the country and they only need to be polished to enable them attain greatness,a South African coach assissting Nigeria in their build-up to the ICC World Cup Series Regional Qualifier in Zambia has said.

Moses Mataboge who arrived in the country at the beginning of the week had since settled down to work with the team at their University of Lagos training ground.

"The talents and standard are there,they just need to be polished a bit,"he told nigeriasports.com after Friday's training session."Cricket is a very exciting game,there's a lot of things to learn,I'm still learning myself as a person.I'm hoping to give what I have to them so that they can take it to the tournament in Lusaka."

Speaking on the prospect of the team at the August 1-8 competition,Mataboge said he would need more time to be able to project that but identified Botswana and Namibia as potential threat.

Explained the 31-year-old:"To be honest it's quite early for me to assess their chances because we still have a lot of things to do,I haven't seen much.The bit that I've seen I'd say they'll do pretty well.

"Botswana and probably Namibia would be the sides to watch because I've seen them play a bit.I'm not too sure about the other countries because I haven't seen them play.

"I think everything is there for the taking,the team that works together at the end of the day will win.Irrespective of how strong the team is it's about working together as a unit and believing in themselves that anything can happen."

Mataboge is a Level 3 coach with the United Cricket Board of South Africa and has been on retainership with the International Cricket Council sice 2000.His job with the ICC has taken him to Zambia, Lesotho and Malawi.

"Before I leave here[Nigeria] I will leave a report on what I've seen and what I think is the way forward,and you just take it from there,"he enthused.