GERHARD ‘Merwe’ Erasmus will captain a strong Namibian side that will compete in the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 tournament, which Namibia will host next month. Erasmus takes over from Jan Frylinck who is now the vice captain of the team.
Cricket Namibia announced the appointment in a recent press statement.
“Since making his debut for Namibia in 2011, Erasmus has been a regular in the Namibian team in all formats and has built a reputation for tight bowling and dominant batting in the top order. More recently he was the captain at Stellenbosch University for two years, and has a highest first-class score of 195. Whilst still young, his experience to date has been outstanding,” it said.
“During his time as a Namibian player he was under the captaincy of Sarel Burger who retired last year. He has therefore had the perfect opportunity to learn from an outstanding captain. Cricket Namibia has every confidence in Merwe and we wish him the best with this important milestone in his career,” it added.
Cricket Namibia also announced the Namibian squad of 14 players for the tournament, which will see Namibia in action against five other associate member countries, namely the United States, Papua New Guinea, Hong Kong, Canada and Oman.
The team has a particularly strong batting line-up with batting down to number nine, while several all-rounders have also been selected.
Former Namibian captain, Stephen Baard, who has been playing club cricket in New Zealand this year, is a certainty to open the batting along with Pikky Ya France or JP Kotze who will fight it out for the other opening berth.
The top order has been strengthened by the return of the classy Jean Bredenkamp, who has been playing for North West this season, while the veteran Craig Williams has decided to return for another shot at glory after announcing his retirement last year.
Other top and middle order batsmen in the squad are captain Erasmus, vice captain Frylinck, wicket keeper Zane Green and all rounder Christi Viljoen, who has been playing club cricket in New Zealand for the past few years.
Another all-rounder is JJ Smit, who will lead the pace bowling attack, along with Frylinck, Viljoen, Tangeni Lungameni and the promising 17-year-old Jan Izak de Villiers, who is currently spearheading Namibia’s attack in the ICC u19 Africa World Cup Qualifier in Windhoek.
Bernard Scholtz will lead Namibia’s spin bowling attack along with Zhivago Groenewald, while Pikky Ya France and Gerhard Erasmus are also options here.
The Namibian squad is as follows:
Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Stephen Baard, JP Kotze, Pikky Ya France, Jean Bredenkamp, Craig Williams, Jan Frylinck, Zane Green, Christi Viljoen, JJ Smit, Zhivago Groenewald, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni and Jan Izak de Villiers.
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