Windhoek 13 September : Wicketkeeper-batter Lohan Louwrens and batter Divan la Cock, and pacer Tangeni Lugameni are the three names that have been added in Namibia’s 16-member squad to play in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup which will be played in Australia starting on October 16 until November 13.The team will be helmed by captain Gerhard Erasmus and sees a diverse mix of youth and the experience.
A lot of the top performers of 2021’s Men’s T20 World Cup in the UAE have been retained as Namibia hopes to replicate their impressive performance from the previous year in Australia.
In their debut appearance in the Men’s T20 World Cup last year, Namibia impressed one and all with their performance and came out of an extremely difficult draw in Round 1 which included Sri Lanka, Netherlands and Ireland to be able to advance to the Super 12 stage of the tournament.
Although they fell to Sri Lanka, Namibia won against the Netherlands and Ireland to make it into the Super 12 stage, where they were placed next to Scotland (won by 4 wickets), New Zealand, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
Skipper Erasmus will rely on the likes of JJ Smit, Stephen Baard, Jan Frylinck, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann and globe-trotting David Wiese, who were players of the squad that played in the tournament in 2021, and who will put in higher performance in the 2022 men’s T20 World Cup.
In Australia, Namibia have been placed alongside Asia Cup 2022 champions Sri Lanka, Netherlands and the UAE in Group A of the Round 1 stage of the tournament.The team will begin the tournament with Sri Lanka on October 16 at Kardinia Park in Geelong.
They will take on Netherlands on the 18th of October and then the UAE on October 20 at the same venue.
Before they begin their journey in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2022, Namibia will play warm-up games against Ireland on October 11 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and against Zimbabwe at the same venue on the 13th of October.
Pierre de Bruyn remains the head coach, while the former South Africa all-rounder Albie Morkel remains an assistant coach.His brother, the former South Africa pacer Morne Morkel is the team’s bowling coach.
Namibia squad: Gerhard Erasmus (captain), JJ Smit, Divan la Cock, Stephen Baard, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni, Michael van Lingen, Ben Shikongo, Karl Birkenstock, Lohan Louwrens, Helao Ya France.
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