PLANS are on to take the senior national team to a playing tour of Ghana, where it will engage teams and the national side of the West African country in friendly games during the Easter break President of the Nigeria Cricket Federation (NCF), Kwesi Sagoe, while revealing the federation's plans for this season, said the tour would begin on the 31st of this month and end on April 6.

"The trip has a double thrust," he said.

"While we will be taking our players out to keep them in shape for future challenges, particularly the World Cricket League Division 7 in 2011, the Ghanaians are also preparing for the Africa zone qualifier for the same league. You can see that the tour will benefit both countries."

Despite Sagoe's optimism, however, a member of the national team, Tayo Atoloye, expressed reservation on the tour. Though he agreed that the tour was a welcome development, Atoloye asked, "why Ghana?" The GCI player reasoned: "At this level of our cricket we should not be going to places like Ghana. What can we learn from them - nothing.

"I expect we go to places like Mozambique, Botswana or Zambia so that we can learn one or two things from them. It would not matter if they beat us but it would serve a better purpose than going to anywhere in the West Coast."