Namibia became the second team from the African continent to qualify for the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup that is set to be hosted by both India and Sri Lanka. They sealed their place in the tournament by defeating Tanzania in the semi-finals by a massive 63-run margin. It was a brilliant all-round display from the Gerhard Erasmus-led side as they qualified for only their fourth campaign in the T20 World Cup.
How many times have Namibia qualified preeviously?
Namibia have previously qualified in the 2021, 2022 and 2024 editions of the tournament and this will be their fourth edition in the competition. They will either be joined by Kenya or Zimbabwe, who will be facing-off in the second semi-final of the African qualifiers.
Coming to the match, Namibia went on to post a big total of 174/6 in 20 overs after being invited to bat first. This was mainly thanks to Erasmus and JJ Smit's massive partnership of 88 runs. Both the batters scored impressive half-centuries with the former scoring 55 and the latter remaining unbeaten on 61.
Namibia hadn't started their inning well and had gotten restricted to 41/4 at one stage, but the big stand helped them a lot in going on to post a great total on the board. Smit helped the side in finishing off their innings on a high as he remained unbeaten and ensured that his side get quite a lot of runs on the board.
Tanzania batters never really got going
In reply, Tanzania's batters never really got going as Namibia kept on taking wickets on regular intervals. Smit also performed brilliantly with the ball and recorded figures of 3/16 in his four-over spell. On the other hand, Ben Shikongo also gave a fine performance in the department and finished with figures of 3/21 in his quota of four overs. Tanzania only managed to put up a total of 111/8 on the board in 20 overs, losing by 63 runs and losing all their chances of qualifying for the T20 World Cup next year.
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On the other hand, Namibia have now become the 16th team to qualify for the tournament that will be featuring a total of 20 sides. It remains to be seen as to who will be the next four teams to qualify for the mega competition next year.