Helao ‘Pikky’ Ya France recently retired following a career of more than a decade with the national cricket team. Ya France represented Namibia in nearly 200 matches across all formats of the game, scoring 2 776 runs with a top score of 54, and taking 63 wickets with a best performance of 3/12.
His contributions, however, were much more than the bare statistics, as he broke new ground as one of Namibia’s first black cricketers, while he contributed in all aspects of the game and became a valued member of Namibia’s most successful squad that reached three T20 World Cups in four years.
Speaking about his career recently Ya France said he was extremely grateful for what the sport had given him.
“Without cricket, I don’t think I’ll be where I am today – cricket has given me a lot of opportunities. I feel so blessed and humbled and I’ve travelled the world with cricket. I’ve made friends in all corners of the world and cricket has basically given me everything, what I’ve built was through cricket and I’ll be forever grateful.”
“Ever since I was a young kid, it was my dream to represent my country. We were just playing for the love of the game, but later my dream came true.
“I travelled the world, played against some of the top teams, and we did pretty well against all of them. That was a lovely experience in my life.
“I never thought of myself as a role model, but it came with time as young kids started looking up to me. I’ll forever cherish what I had as a professional cricket player, and now I tell them that they are living the dream. I think when you’re in it, you don’t see how fortunate you are just to get paid to train.”
After first representing Namibia at u13 level, Ya France progressed through the national ranks and, in 2008, was a member of the u19 team that competed at the u19 World Cup in Malaysia, where a number of other rising stars of world cricket were also in action.
“That u19 World Cup in Malaysia was quite amazing. Virat Kohli was also there and India went on to win the title. There were other players who became international stars like Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and the late Phil Hughes as well,” Ya France recalled.
Ya France made his debut for the senior team in 2011 and continued to play on and off for the national side over the next 12 years. He took time off for study and work commitments in between, but formed part of a successful squad that started taking shape under Pierre de Bruyn who was appointed national coach at the end of 2018.
Under his leadership Namibia reached their first T20 World Cup in 2021 and went on to qualify twice more in 2022 and 2024 and Ya France said his professional approach changed the team’s fortunes.
“Pierre was a very tough coach, a very good coach, and technically sound. You know, he expected us to train hard, and to give our level best on and off the field. He just expected a high commitment from all of us and that’s probably one of the reasons why the national team is still doing so well.
“He just instilled within us a belief that if we train hard, we’re basically capable of causing upsets and competing against anyone in the world. He also instilled the belief within the players that should you perform well, you’ll be rewarded well.”
“I think that’s why Namibia is doing so well right now. I think being able to be a professional, just training day in, day out, if the majority of the sports codes in Namibia could adopt that blueprint, I think we have the potential to succeed, I think we have the ability. You have to be professional to be able to compete at the highest level.”
Ya France, however, feels that more needs to be done to develop the game amongst black Namibians.
“The numbers don’t lie and the national team is still predominantly white, so considering that we’ve been independent for 35 years, I dont think that the game has spread and developed much in Namibia. I know Cricket Namibia implemented a facility in Walvis Bay which brings in a lot of black players, but I don’t think cricket has spread through the entire demographic of Namibia. Years ago there was a club in Oshakati that had some talented players that used to flock into our age group system but that club just vanished, I’m not sure why. There’s going to be a new cricket stadium and the u19 and senior World Cups that Namibia will host over the next two years, so I believe it’s an opportunity for Cricket Namibia to spread the game and take it to the people.”
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