Cricket Namibia was named the winner due to the continued success of their Ashburton Kwata Mini-Cricket Programme. This participation programme was launched in 2009 and embraces the notion of playing in open environments, and encourages respect, leadership and resilience through the game of cricket.
The programme has been honoured for a second successive year in the ICC Development Awards and has now expanded throughout the country. Playing opportunities were provided to over 20,000 children through this initiative.
The winners of the ICC Development Awards 2022 were determined by a panel of specialist voters that included a host of cricket icons. The voters consisted of Graeme Smith, Mel Jones, Stafanie Taylor and representatives from ICC Full Members, ICC partners and the media.
Cricket Namibia also walked away with the ICC Associate Member Men’s Performance of the year after an important win against Sri Lanka last year in the opening stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Geelong, Australia.
Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit and David Wiese delivered sensational performances as Namibia beat the 2014 champions and cricketing powerhouse by 55 runs.
The Richelieu Eagles skipper, Gerhard Erasmus, expressed that beating one of the greatest cricket national teams in the world was a thrilling achievement.
“It really is a fairy tale story for the Namibian Cricket to have beaten the former ICC Men’s T20 World Cup champions,” said Erasmus.
Erasmus added that he thinks the sacrifice and determination of everyone involved led to the triumph.
Furthermore, Cricket Namibia also walked away with the cricket 4 Good Social Impact Initiative of the year programme after launching a colourful Pledge 4 Pink social campaign, to fundraise the Cancer Association of Namibia, yielding excellent results and helping the team win the award.
In the annual event, various activities took place over a five-day period including a Pink Ball, a Golf Day and a specialist T20 tournament on Pink Day, with over 2,000 spectators attending in support of the cause. The initiatives also included national players auctioning off their jerseys and Cricket Namibia raised N$152,000 to support various cancer patients around the country.