Namibia’s U-19 cricket team leaves for Zimbabwe on Friday for three warm-up matches ahead of the Pepsi ICC U-19 Africa Championship that starts in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 14 February.
The winning team of the Africa Championship will qualify directly for the 2016 U-19 World Cup in Bangladesh, while the runner-up will be involved in an intercontinental qualifying tournament for the final spot in Bangladesh.
In Dar es Salaam, Namibia will compete against the hosts Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Botswana for a place at the 2016 World Cup.
Namibia go into the tournament as the champions, having won the 2013 Africa Championships in Uganda when the beat Kenya in the final to qualify for the 2014 U-19 World Cup. But they will find it tough to retain their status as they have a young team this time around, with only two players remaining from the 2014 World Cup – captain Zane Green and all-rounder SJ Loftie-Eaton.
Namibian coach Norbert Manyande however said that new age restrictions would affect all the competing teams.
“The International Cricket Council (ICC) has brought in new age restrictions for the U-19’s, so all the teams will have new players. If there are any returnees (from the 2014 World Cup) amongst the other teams, they will only be one or two players, so it’s not just Namibia that’s affected, all the other teams are affected as well,” he said.
Manyande said the squad was well prepared for the tournament.
“We feel quite strong, we’ve been working since October to get the U19 squad ready. We went to the Coca Cola Khaya Majola Cricket Week in Pretoria and also on the Grahamstown tour so the guys have played about seven or eight games in total now. In terms of preparation we have played quite a bit of cricket and we obviously have been working towards this tournament as well.”
The Namibian team performed well at the Khaya Majola Week, winning three, drawing one and losing one of their five matches against South African provincial sides, although several of those players like Michau du Preez, Joshuan Julies, JJ Smit and Tiaan Snyman are now over the age limit.
Most of the current squad however competed in the Schools Cricket Festival in Grahamstown last month where they won two matches with a third being rained out.
New players like Tiaan Steenkamp, Hermias Strauss and Lohan Louwrens shone with the bat, while Hendrik Koekemoer, Nico Davin and SJ Loftie-Eaton were the pick of the bowlers.
Despite a lack of experience, Manyande said they were a good all-round team which could rise to the occasion.
“Our captain Zane Green is the most capped player in the team, while we also have SJ Loftie-Eaton who played at the last World Cup. He’s quite experienced, featuring every now and then in the national senior side, so hopefully we’ll get some winning performances from those two.”
“However, we are quite a strong team overall and we don’t only rely on one or two people. On any given day, any one of them can deliver a performance that will give us a win, and that is our strength and that’s what we pride ourselves in,” he added.
Manyande said the competition would be tough, but remained optimistic of Namibia’s chances.
“It’s going to be tough. We are coming from this side of Africa to go and play on the other side of Africa and the conditions there are quite difficult, we are not used to that. But it’s a challenge and we embrace it and will take it on.
Obviously Kenya will be our biggest opponents – they will be a big hurdle to overcome, but we are quite confident. We have beaten them before in the U-19 tournament, and with our preparation at the moment we are obviously striving to put on a better show this time,” he said.
