SONDE PREDICTS BETTER FUTURE FOR ROCKS

ABEOKUTA Rocks' coach, Seyi Sonde, has admitted that the 2009/10 season was a very bad one for the club, but told reporters in Lagos last weekend that the team would bounce back.

Sonde said that the team, which was one of the hottest in previous seasons, had a lot of challenges to contend with during this period. He stated: 'We lost some of our best players to other clubs during pre-season and we brought in young and inexperienced players as replacements. But we did not do too badly as we finished third in the league.'

Sonde, who is also a member of the Nigeria Cricket Federation's (NCF) technical committee, said that inadequate funding was the main reason some players left the team for more prosperous clubs, adding: 'Players like Segun Olayinka, Joshua Ogunlola and Kunle Adegbola came back from England and signed for other clubs. They all left for greener pastures.'

Beyond that, the club could not honour its reverse fixture against the eventual champion, Government College Ibadan Old Boys Cricket Club, because it could not raise enough funds to prosecute the match, he said. He spoke further: 'If we had played our second match against GCIOB, perhaps we could have ended the season better than we did.'

Like a true sportsman, Sonde has not given up on a possible resurgence, as he believes the future is bright: 'Next season, we hope our sponsor will continue to provide the necessary encouragement,” he said. “It's not been easy for the sponsors but with the interest they have shown, we hope for better days ahead.'

He hinted on a possible reorganisation of the club ahead of next season, stating: 'We will dispense with the services of some of our players and possibly recall those in other clubs.

“We have been talking and they have been sounding positive. It now depends on if we can offer them something better than what they are enjoying currently.'