By Aili Dawid
CRICKET Namibia announced its 16 – members squad yesterday, which is going to represent the country in the T20 ICC men’s cricket world cup. The world cup will take place in Australia from the 16th of October to the 13th of November.
Namibia has banked on experience in their 16-member squad led by talismanic skipper Gerhard Erasmus and sees a blend of youth and experience.
Namibia has done a great job last year (2021) after getting out of a tough group in Round 1 that included Sri Lanka, Netherlands, and Ireland to make it to the Super 12 stage of the tournament.
Many key names from that historic performance are retained in the squad. Skipper Erasmus could bank on the likes of JJ Smit, Stephen Baard, Jan Frylinck, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, and David Wiese, who were members of the squad from the campaign in 2021.
Namibia has also introduced some new names in the squad, who will make their T20 World cup debut. Wicketkeeper-batter Lohan Louwrens, batter Divan la Cock and pacer Tangeni Lungameni are the three names in the squad who will feature for the first time in the marquee tournament.
Namibia has once again been paired alongside Sri Lanka and the Netherlands with the UAE rounding of Group A of the Round 1 stage of the 2022 tournament. They will first campaign against Sri Lanka on 16 October at Kardinia Park in Geelong. They will face the Netherlands on 18 October and UAE on 20 October at the same venue.
Namibia squad: Gerhard Erasmus ©, JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephen Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, Ben Shikongo, Karl Birkenstock, Lohan Louwrens, Helao Ya France.