Eseigbe is Back for Kwibuka Tournament in Rwanda

Female Yellow Greens captain Favour Eseigbe is back with the team after almost a year away. The squad is starting the final phase of their preparation for the 2026 Kwibuka Tournament in Rwanda, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

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

Eseigbe became captain in 2024 after Blessing Etim retired. She last played for Nigeria at the 2025 Kwibuka tournament. She was surprisingly left out of the team in August 2025 before the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier in Namibia. People said her form had dropped, and she was also busy with school.

Now that Eseigbe is back, she will lead 13 other players to the tournament. Some of the players include Lilian Ude, experienced batter Salome Sunday, Christabel Chukwuonye, and Esther Sandy.

Wicketkeeper Sarah Etim will serve as vice-captain. She will be joined by 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. Piety captained the team to victory at the Patricia Kambarami Cup in Lagos earlier this year while Eseigbe was away.

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

The invited 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 final camping phase, the team will stay in Benin City to sharpen their skills before the tournament.

In this year’s competition, Nigeria will face host Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Brazil, and Malawi. The Female Yellow Greens will kick off the round-robin phase with a match against Malawi on Wednesday, June 10.

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