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Our flagship work

Youth development

IMCC has been passionate about youth education and character development since inception. Most of the founding members were young men themselves when the club was inaugurated, and understood the need. Our major aim as a club is youth development: identifying and properly nurturing young players so they achieve their potential in the game and fulfil their dreams in life.

The first set of youngsters to wear the navy blue and black of IMCC were Ayannaike Joshua, Majaro Tobi, Nfeanyi Ntoka and Bello Adeola. After discussions with their parents and guardians — as we always do before finalising the recruitment of any child — they played their first game for us while still in secondary school, and gave a good account of themselves. Joshua and Tobi were destructive batsmen and wicket keepers, Ntoka a spinner with plenty of guile, and Adeola a pace bowler and big-hitting lower-order batsman.

The proof of that nurturing is that Joshua is now the captain of the national cricket team, and a graduate of the University of Lagos. Tobi represented Nigeria at the ICC U19 African regional qualifiers before gaining admission to Obafemi Awolowo University, later relocating to the United States to complete his education. Ntoka and Adeola were also invited to the U19 team; both gave a good account of themselves. Another set of young players to represent the club were Rilwan Yusuf, Olaoye Sola, Oyenuga Niyi, Ogungbade Idris and Muideen Razzaq.

When Okon Ukpong started his cricket academy in Ibadan with secondary school students, IMCC secured a partnership to showcase the talent he was training. He often said he wanted to nurture children who would go on to shake the cricket world. As a board member of IMCC he fast-tracked their recruitment, and it was a joy having them play for us: Runsewe Sulaiman, Akachukwu Chima, Elijah Olaleye, Adekoya Goke, Vincent Adewoye and Miracle Ikaige. Most of them now feature prominently in the national team, and the trio of Runsewe Sulaiman, Elijah Olaleye and Miracle Ikaige played exceptional roles in the squad that represented Nigeria at its first ever ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, in South Africa in 2020.

We are proud of youngsters like Odunayo Talabi, a top-order batsman, and Dada Toluwalase, a worthy spinner. We are not resting on our laurels: recruitment of more young players from different schools has been concluded, and we intend to give them all the support they need to play cricket to their fullest while keeping their academic work alongside it.