The FNB Namibia Eagles fly off to Zimbabwe tomorrow for a three-match T20 series ahead of the T20 Africa World Cup Qualifiers that start at the end of September.
The Zimbabwe Cricket Board on Tuesday announced it will host Namibia in a three-match T20 series next week, with all three matches taking place at the Queens Sport Club in Bulawayo, before the World Cup Qualifiers get underway in Harare on 26 September.
In Harare, Namibia and Zimbabwe will battle it out with six other African nations for the top two spots that will qualify for next year’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February and March.
Namibia will compete in a group along with Malawi, Nigeria and Kenya, while the other group will be contested by Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana.
The top two in each group will progress to the semi-finals, with the two winners qualifying for the final, while also booking their tickets for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Namibia coach Craig Williams says they didn’t have much time to recuperate after recently returning from Canada, where they played against the hosts and Scotland in the Cricket World Cup League 2 ODI series.
“We just got back from Canada on Sunday and only had one day to rest before our preparations started again for Zimbabwe. We will have an inter-squad match on Thursday afternoon and then fly off to Zimbabwe on Friday,” he says.
“Zimbabwe have a very strong T20 side and will provide a very good test for us. They have played a lot of matches recently against New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka so they will be well prepared,” he says.
Namibia actually have a better record against Zimbabwe in recent years, having won two T20 series’ 3-2 in 2022 and 2023, while they also won a crucial T20 World Cup qualifier in Windhoek in November 2023, that ultimately put Zimbabwe out of contention for a place at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Since then, however, Zimbabwe have improved considerably and are currently ranked 12th in the world in T20 cricket compared to Namibia’s 16th place, and Williams said Namibia can expect a tough series.
“We have a good track record against them but we cannot use that as a yardstick. They have played a lot of cricket lately against top sides, but we are also well prepared and in a good space, so we are looking forward to it,” he says.
The Zimbabwe squad will be captained by one of the world’s top all-rounders in Sikandar Raza, who is currently ranked first in ODI cricket and fourth in T20 cricket, while it includes numerous other star players like Tadiwanashe Marumani, Brian Bennet, Sean Williams, Ryan Burl, Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava.
The Namibian selectors, meanwhile, announced a 15-man squad yesterday for the Zimbabwe tour which sees a few changes from the one that recently competed in Canada. Williams said that all the players had been considered but that not all of them were available due to work commitments.
Openers JP Kotze and WP Myburgh have been ommitted along with pace bowler Tangeni Lungameni, while Namibia u19 captain Alex Voschenk has been called up along with Limpopo batter Louren Steenkamp, who will make his debut for Namibia.
The Steenkamp (28), who’s father is Namibian, is a top-order batter who made his first class debut for North West in 2017, before later joining Limpopo.
He has scored more than 2 000 runs in all formats of the game with a top score of 136.
The Namibian squad is captained by Gerhard Erasmus and shows a well-balanced side of youth and experience.
Some of the experienced stalwarts include batters Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Malan Kruger, while spin bowler Bernard Scholtz, who is now ranked fifth in the world in ODI cricket, will head the bowling department along with Smit, Erasmus, Ruben Trumpelmann and Ben Shikongo.
The Namibian squad is as follows: Erasmus (captain), Kruger, Louren Steenkamp, JC Balt, Frylinck, Loftie-Eaton (vice captain), Smit, Zane Green, Alex Volschenk, Trumpelmann, Dylan Leicher, Jan-Izak de Villiers, Ben Shikongo, Jack Brassell and Scholtz.
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