Nam cricketers look to ICC Trophy

NAMIBIA’S senior cricket side intends to prepare itself well for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Trophy billed for Ireland early next year, with matches starting next month.

Namibia will be one of the emerging cricketing nations expected to take part in the tournament scheduled for July next year. There will be 12 countries participating, of which only five will be required to qualify for the 2007 Cricket World Cup scheduled for West Indies.Namibia has been pitted against Holland, Scotland, Oman and Canada in Group B of the competition, while Group A consists of Ireland, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Uganda and the United States of America.Namibia and Uganda will play in the tournament after finishing top of the table during the Africa Cricket Championships in Zambia early in August this year.Namibia ended top in the African competition by beating Botswana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and host Zambia in their matches.Although the Namibians proved their dominance during the Zambia tournament, their strengths will be tested further by South Africa’s Eastern Cape Franchise side, which is due to tour the country from September 19 to 27.Namibia has so far announced a training group of 20 players for the respective encounters, but they have not gathered to practice as a team at this stage.Namibian captain Deon Kotze told The Namibian Sport yesterday that four players who have been called up are students in South Africa, while two are playing club cricket in England.He said the players will gather from later this week to prepare for the South Africans whom he describes as a “proper first class team”.The South African based players are Morne Karg (bowler and wicket keeper), a student at the University of Free State, as well as Bjorn Kotze (bowler) and Hugo Ludik (batsman), who are both studying at Stellenbosch.Marius van der Merwe (batsman), studies at the University of Pretoria, while top order batsman Jan Berry Burger is currently also visiting in South Africa.Both Gerry Snyman and Stephan Swanepoel play club cricket in England.Kotze said some of these players will report for training either at the end of this week or early next week.Namibia will play two One Day Internationals and a one Three Day game against the South Africans.Namibia Cricket Board’s Director of Marketing, Sam van Wyk, said the games will be ideal warm-up matches before the side leaves for Kenya for further matches in October.The Namibians will play three One Day Internationals and a one Three Day game against the Kenyans.Kotze said he was confident that they will perform well against the South Africans, before they head to Kenya.On the ICC Trophy, he said Namibia has played some of the teams that will be at the competition and expects difficult games, while they can take advantage of some.”I am sure that by that time, we will be well prepared and ready to take on these sides.One thing we have in common is that those countries do not have a large pool of players to choose from and we expect the same opposition we faced at earlier competitions,” he said.Asked in which areas the Namibians needed to sharpen up, Kotze said their batting, which has been erratic, has now become more consistent.”We have worked on this area and we have seen a lot of improvements, especially during our tour to Zambia.Our fielding and bowling has been good and with it, we survived many encounters in which we were under pressure,” he said.There will be 12 countries participating, of which only five will be required to qualify for the 2007 Cricket World Cup scheduled for West Indies.Namibia has been pitted against Holland, Scotland, Oman and Canada in Group B of the competition, while Group A consists of Ireland, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, Uganda and the United States of America.Namibia and Uganda will play in the tournament after finishing top of the table during the Africa Cricket Championships in Zambia early in August this year.Namibia ended top in the African competition by beating Botswana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and host Zambia in their matches.Although the Namibians proved their dominance during the Zambia tournament, their strengths will be tested further by South Africa’s Eastern Cape Franchise side, which is due to tour the country from September 19 to 27.Namibia has so far announced a training group of 20 players for the respective encounters, but they have not gathered to practice as a team at this stage.Namibian captain Deon Kotze told The Namibian Sport yesterday that four players who have been called up are students in South Africa, while two are playing club cricket in England.He said the players will gather from later this week to prepare for the South Africans whom he describes as a “proper first class team”.The South African based players are Morne Karg (bowler and wicket keeper), a student at the University of Free State, as well as Bjorn Kotze (bowler) and Hugo Ludik (batsman), who are both studying at Stellenbosch.Marius van der Merwe (batsman), studies at the University of Pretoria, while top order batsman Jan Berry Burger is currently also visiting in South Africa.Both Gerry Snyman and Stephan Swanepoel play club cricket in England.Kotze said some of these players will report for training either at the end of this week or early next week.Namibia will play two One Day Internationals and a one Three Day game against the South Africans.Namibia Cricket Board’s Director of Marketing, Sam van Wyk, said the games will be ideal warm-up matches before the side leaves for Kenya for further matches in October.The Namibians will play three One Day Internationals and a one Three Day game against the Kenyans.Kotze said he was confident that they will perform well against the South Africans, before they head to Kenya.On the ICC Trophy, he said Namibia has played some of the teams that will be at the competition and expects difficult games, while they can take advantage of some.”I am sure that by that time, we will be well prepared and ready to take on these sides.One thing we have in common is that those countries do not have a large pool of players to choose from and we expect the same opposition we faced at earlier competitions,” he said.Asked in which areas the Namibians needed to sharpen up, Kotze said their batting, which has been erratic, has now become more consistent.”We have worked on this area and we have seen a lot of improvements, especially during our tour to Zambia.Our fielding and bowling has been good and with it, we survived many encounters in which we were under pressure,” he said.