PEPSI ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division 2 will see six Associate teams locking horns in Namibia, and Netherlands’ Peter Borren, Kenya’s Rakep Patel and Uganda’s Frank Nsubuga say their teams are excited for the tournament to begin.
During the eight-day tournament that commences on 17 January, Canada, Kenya, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands and Uganda will compete for the opportunity to progress to ICC’s four-day Intercontinental Cup 2015-17 and the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Championship.
Netherlands’ Peter Borren is expecting a competitive tournament: “All the participating teams are capable of playing an exciting brand of cricket to a high standard. We are aware of the competitive nature of the tournament and are looking forward to the challenge. I expect the Netherlands team to perform well and it is our target to win the tournament.”
The Netherlands squad has enjoyed an intensive 10-day camp in Pretoria in early January, 2015 and will be hoping this provide the right preparation for the tournament.
Its squad is a mixture of experience and raw talent explains Borren: “Look out for Stephan Myburgh; he is an enforcer at the top of the innings and Mudassar Bukhari will once again lead the bowling attack. On his day he is clearly one of associate cricket’s top performers and if he has a consistent tournament we will be very hard to beat.”
Uganda skipper, Frank Nsubuga is excited for the tournament to begin: “The team are training hard and the camp was great experience ahead of the tournament. Playing against Zimbabwe in Kampala was good preparation.”
Uganda qualified for WCL Div. 2 after coming second in the WCL Div. 3, held in Malaysia in October 2014, and the squad boasts all-rounder Roger Mukasa who was the Player of the Tournament in that event.
Kenya captain Rakep Patel is confident for his team ahead of the tournament: “I think we fancy ourselves doing well in the tournament. Although we didn’t get the results in our favour against Pakistan A, I think the tour has definitely helped the boys as they played against opposition of higher standard.”
The African side is seeking to regain its ranking amongst the top Associates by using the tournament as a way back in to the ICC Intercontinental Cup and the Pepsi World Cricket League Championship.
Patel is keen to help Kenya climb the international ladder, but he says the side is taking one tournament at a time: “We are taking one event at a time we don’t want to look to far ahead and lose focus of the present. If we start winning games again it will have a positive effect on the team and that in turn would help us climb the ladder slowly but surely.”
The opening day of the tournament will see Namibia take on Kenya at Wanderers, Netherlands lock horns with Canada at United, and Uganda face Nepal at Wanderers Affies. – icc-cricket.com
