A well-balanced Namibian team opens its campaign in the fourth leg of the Cricket World Cup League 2 series when they take on the United Arab Emirates in Muscat, Oman on Monday.
Namibia is currently well-placed in the series, lying fourth out of six teams, with several matches in hand on the leaders, and a good showing could see them challenging for the lead.
The United States leads the series, which is being held in various countries over a period of two and a half years, with 12 points from eight matches, followed by Scotland on nine points, also from eight matches.
Oman, who comfortably beat UAE by five wickets in Muscat on Sunday, follow on eight points from five matches, while Namibia are fourth on six points from four matches. They are followed by UAE on three points and Papua New Guinea, who must still open their account.
At the end of the tournament in January 2022, the top three teams will advance to the final qualifying tournament for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
Namibia got off to a fine start in the series in Fort Lauderdale, USA last September when they won three of their four matches against the United States and PNG.
They started off on the back foot, suffering a five-wicket defeat to the United States on 17 September, but then won their next three matches in a row, thumping the USA by 139 runs in their return match, before beating PNG by four wickets and 27 runs in their two encounters.
Since then, though, the USA has taken a commanding lead in the series after some fine performances in the UAE in December last year, where they won three of their four matches against Scotland and UAE. They twice beat the UAE – by three wickets and by 98 runs, while they also beat Scotland by 35 runs. Their only defeat came in the second match against Scotland when they lost by four wickets.
The Namibian selectors last month made several changes to the national side, bringing in three promising teenagers, while several senior players have been dropped.
The teenagers are 18-year-old pace bowler Jan Izak de Villiers of Wanderers; 19 year-old all-rounder Nicol Loftie-Eaton from CCD Tigers and 19-year-old off-spinner Mauritius Ngupita from the coastal Welwitschia side.
They replace two WHS Old Boys players – pace bowler Tangeni Lungameni and all-rounder Zhivago Groenewald, who is out with a knee injury, and experienced all-rounder Christi Viljoen.
The three newcomers are all promising players who have represented Namibia at junior level, while De Villiers and Loftie-Eaton recently also received contracts from Cricket Namibia.
De Villiers has genuine pace, while Ngupita has impressed with his off-spin bowling and has been a regular wicket-taker on the local club scene. Loftie-Eaton, though, has the potential to be the best of the lot with his explosive batting, while he is also a more than adequate leg spin bowler.
After their historic qualification for the T20 World Cup in Dubai last October, the Namibian side will be high on confidence heading into the Oman series.
On that occasion captain Gerhard Erasmus won the man of the series award, after finishing as the second highest run scorer, while he also impressed with his captaincy and some great fielding displays.
All-rounder JJ Smit also made the team of the series, while off-spinner Bernard Scholtz was selected as twelfth-man after some excellent bowling displays.
Besides them, Namibia has several more experienced players who could play an important role in Oman. They include vice captain and all-rounder Jan Frylinck, opening batsman Stephen Baard, top order batsman JP Kotze, veteran middle order batsman Craig Williams, all-rounder Pikky Ya France and wicket keeper Zane Green. The rest of Namibia’s squad members are all-rounder Karl Birkenstock and the young pace bowler Ben Shikongo.
