Namibia is one of the 16 teams that will be participating in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia. A small country in the southern part of Africa saw cricket germinate in prison where prisoners of the first World War played the sport. More than a century later, Namibia is one of the successful Associate Countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and cricket continues to flourish in that part of the world.
Until now, Namibia has participated in a 50-over ODI World Cup once and have made the same number of appearance in the T20 World Cup. They will now compete in only their second T20 World Cup. Ahead of the marquee multi-national T20 tournament, let's dive into the history of cricket in Namibia and how has the country's journey been in the sport so far.
It is widely believed that while being part of the German colony in 1909, cricket was played in the Okonjande prisoner of war camp near Otjiwarongo. It was after gaining independence in 1990 that cricket started to take baby steps towards becoming one of the sort after sports in the country.
Not an ideal start to World Cup cricket
Namibia reached the final of the 2001 ICC Trophy and earned a ticket for the 2003 50-over World Cup. The country's campaign in the 2003 ODI World Cup ended on a sour note as they failed to register even a single victory. Having said that, Namibia came close to pulling off an upset win against England.
After 2003, Namibia didn't qualify for any big-ticket ICC tournament for 18 years and continued to compete at the associate level. But their next qualification was worth the wait as they gave a resounding testament to their potential.
Wonderous T20 World Cup campaign
In its first-ever T20 World Cup campaign in 2021 in the UAE, Namibia caught the eye of the entire cricket fraternity with outstanding performances. Namibia defeated countries like Netherlands and Ireland in the first round and qualified for the Super-12 stage of the tournament.
Riding high on confidence, Namibia defeated Scotland in the Super-12 stage but suffered heavy defeats against blockbuster teams like India, Pakistan and New Zealand. However, after displaying their potential, Namibia won the hearts of thousands of cricket fans. So far, the country has played 38 T20I matches, winning 26 games in the process and losing just 12 fixtures.
T20 World Cup 2022
In the upcoming T20 World Cup, Namibia have been placed in Group A alongside Sri Lanka, Netherlands and UAE in Round 1 stage of the tournament. On October 16, Namibia will open their campaign against Sri Lanka at Kardinia Park in Geelong. They will then face the Netherlands on 18 October and UAE on 20 October at the same venue. The onus will be on experienced players like the captain Gerhard Erasmus, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck and David Wiese to lead Namibia from the front in order to build on last year's heroics.
Namibia squad for T20 World Cup: Gerhard Erasmus (c), 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.
