TBS: Nigeria’s Traditional Home Of Cricket

Moses Titilayo

…Lagos Significant Spectacle

Lagos is rich as it is also regarded as centre of excellence for the opportunities given to all to succeed irrespective of age, class or origin. The everyday hustling and bustling that Lagos is known for does not take away the relaxation and sporting event out of the equation. It’s indeed a balanced city for old and new generations.

For instance, the Tafawa Balewa Square popularly known as TBS was named after Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister. TBS is surrounded by impressive buildings and memorial sites, and is in constant use for a variety of celebrations and official functions, irrespective of when you visit, you are sure to find some sort of activity going on, which makes Tafawa Balewa Square a great place to experience Nigerian culture.

One sporting event that stand out at TBS is the Tafawa Balewa Square Cricket Oval, which is widely considered as the ‘traditional home of cricket’ in Nigeria. It hosted matches in the North-Western sub region of the tournament, although the ground was closed for 18 months to complete a renovation from a concrete surface to 10-strip turf to meet the ICC standards.The 55000 capcity renovation was completed in January 2022, following which Nigeria hosted their first Women’s Twenty20 International matches in the 2022 Nigeria Invitational Women’s T20I Tournament.

Facilities at the square include a shopping center, Airline’s Travel Agencies, restaurants and car parking and a bus terminal

The Cricket game is played with a bat and ball and involves two competing sides (teams) of 11 players. The field is oval with a rectangular area in the middle, known as the pitch, that is 22 yards (20.12 metres) by 10 feet (3.04 metres) wide. Two sets of three sticks, called wickets, are set in the ground at each end of the pitch. Across the top of each wicket lie horizontal pieces called bails.

Matches in cricket can range from informal weekend afternoon encounters on village greens to top-level international contests spread over five days in Test matches and played by leading professional players in grand stadiums.

It should be noted that TBS is also a sports field that hosted horse racing, but included a section for football and ground to play cricket. The land was provided to colonial authorities by Oba Dosumu in 1859, who thereafter, built up the surrounding areas.

The entrance to the square has gigantic sculptures of four white horses hovering above the gate and seven red eagles, which are symbols from the national emblem signifying Strength and Dignity respectively. Other monuments in the square include the Remembrance arcade(with memorials to Nigeria Civil War victims) and the 26-storey Independence House, built in 1963 which was for a long time, the tallest building in Nigeria.

Facilities at the square include a shopping center, Airline’s Travel Agencies, restaurants and car parking and a bus terminal.