Gregs win fourth KIGS cricket tiltle

Batsman Henry Ikenna put up a spellbinding performance and Stanley Iloko shore up his acclaim as a future potential while they inspired St Gregory's College Lagos to their record fourth title in the annual KIGS Cricket Tournament. Curtains were drawn on the four-day quadrangular competition at the weekend with last round of matches in the round-robin series.

Gregs won the toss to bat first against the winless Trailblazers.And expectedly, the former
demonstrated their superiority, swinging and guarding resolutely as they amass runs ,no thanks to poor
bowling prowess of the Trailblazers.

Ikenna who was colourless in Gregs' two previous victories,overawed successsive Trailblazers'
bowlers,hitting three boundaries on the trot in addition to trickles on the pitch.

His partnership with Iloko earned Gregs more runs enroute their 130 for 9 wickets in 20 overs.
Trailblazers could only manage 43 runs in 12 overs in the reply.

Gregs' triumph over Trailblazers effectively made inconsequential,the other game of the day which
featured defending champions King's College and Igbobi College.

Chairman of the Nigeria Cricket Association[NCA] Dr. John Abebe was among the dignitaries and cricket enthusiasts alike who thronged the St Gregory's College Obalende venue of the tournament.

He told nigeriasports.com that the KIGS event which was only resuscitated this year after a two-year
lull has come to stay and would continue to serve as an avenue for the cricket association to identify
future career players of the game.

Said him:"After the end of the 2003 season,the board met and we resolved to shift our focus to youth
development,instead of the senior competitions.We'd committed so much to that already.

"KIGS cricket is just one of the many youth development programmes that we have.The All Secondary
Schools Championship ended few weeks ago,and in a matter of few weeks we hope to introduce an innovation called Kanga Cricket for youths,it would be sponsored by MTN.

"The Nigerian Ports Authority[NPA] and the Niger Delta Development Commission have also given tacit
approval to proposal sent to them on youth development.So the sky is the limit if we could get all these done."

The 2004 edition of KIGS cricket tournament was bankrolled by Dr. Abebe and the four participating
teams are said to be the traditional cricket-playing schools in the country,with their adherence dating
back to the pre-colonial era.

By Dipo Okubanjo