Sylvester Okpe

A leader from the start

Sylvester Okpe, born on 7 December 2000, is a right-handed batter and off-spin bowler. He made his senior Twenty20 debut at the 2018 Africa T20 Cup, aged 17, and in 2019 captained Nigeria’s under-19s to victory in the Africa Division One qualifier in Namibia, beating Namibia, Uganda and Kenya. He was named Player of the Tournament as Nigeria qualified for a World Cup for the first time.

World Cup captain

He made his T20 international debut against Kenya on 20 May 2019 and, as vice-captain, was Nigeria’s leading wicket-taker at the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in the UAE. In January 2020 he led the boys at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa.

Captain of the Yellow Greens

Now captain of the senior men’s team, he led Nigeria to victory in the Africa Sub-regional Qualifier C in Lagos in November 2024 and to the final of the ILT20 Continent Cup in Kigali in December 2024. “The guys have been more fearless with their batting and the bowling has been more tactical,” he said after that tournament.