Eseigbe is back for Kwibuka tournament in Rwanda

Female Yellow Greens captain Favour Eseigbe is back in the team after nearly one year away. The team is starting their final preparations for the 2026 Kwibuka Tournament in Rwanda, according to PUNCH Sports Extra.

Head coach Theophilus Ibodeme has included Eseigbe in his final 14-player squad for this year’s tournament. The event will take place from June 10 to 20 at the Gahanga Cricket Oval in Kigali.

Eseigbe took over as captain from the retired Blessing Etim in 2024. Her last game for Nigeria was during the 2025 Kwibuka tournament. She was unexpectedly dropped from the team in August 2025 before the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier in Namibia. Her absence was mainly due to a decline in form and her focus on school.

Now that Eseigbe is back, she will lead 13 other players. This includes Lilian Ude, experienced batter Salome Sunday, Christabel Chukwuonye and Esther Sandy, who are ready for the tournament.

Wicketkeeper Sarah Etim will serve as vice-captain. She will team up with Omosigho Eguakun, Shola Adekunle, Henrietta Mbam, Jessica Bieni, Deborah Bassey, Oseyende Omonkhobhio, Favour Effiong and Rachael Samson.

One player missing from the squad is Lucky Piety. She led the team to victory at the Patricia Kambarami Cup in Lagos earlier this year while Eseigbe was away.

The 14 players chosen for the tournament came from a group of 24 who were part of the first training phase. This phase lasted 10 days at the Nigeria Cricket Federation’s High Performance Centre in Benin City, Edo State.

During this time, the players played six trial matches to check their performance, fitness and how well they worked together before the final selection.

Instead of moving to Lagos for the last phase of training, the team decided to stay in Benin City to sharpen their skills before the tournament.

In this year’s competition, Nigeria will compete against hosts Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Brazil and Malawi.

The Female Yellow Greens will kick off the round-robin stage with a match against Malawi on Wednesday, June 10.

Ibodeme hopes to make a strong impression at this year’s Kwibuka Tournament. He already led the Female Yellow Greens to win the Patricia Kambarami Cup earlier this year.