India, Oct. 31 -- Chisom Mary Okpe is a young girl playing cricket in Nigeria, living with limited means. Some days, she's had to skip cricket training to help her mother gather firewood. Next January, she could represent the Nigeria U19 team in the women's World Cup in Bangladesh and Nepal. Giselle, 14, would be the youngest member of that squad. She picked up a cricket bat only 18 months ago.

Neither player would have earned the right to represent their country so young, if not for a chance encounter with Criiio, the International Cricket Council's (ICC) street-cricket programme. With limited equipment and without game knowledge, Criiio can be played at any nook and corner of a street - anytime, anywhere, by anyone.

"Criiio has just a...