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Namibian cricket

Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2021 6:38 am
by cricket_22001
With the interest in the current series between Zimbabwe Emerging & Namibia, I thought I'd just share a brief history of Namibian cricket.
Before independence they were part of the South Africa West country districts & became an ICC affiliate in 1992.
They competed in the ICC Trophy from 1993-2005.
Also, from 1996/7-2001/2 they competed in the 2nd tier South African domestic 3 day & 1 day tournaments. For some reason SA didn't give this tournament FC status during these years.
But, regardless, this was exceptional grounding for Namibia who qualified for the WC in 2003/04.
During these years they had some good die hard stalwarts, Dannie Kuelder, Gavin Murgatroyd, Rudi Van Vuuren, The Burgers- AJ, Louis & Sarel, & the Kotzes- Deon & Bjorn.
Some continued on & formed the nucleus of the Namibian team that was given FC status in the 2nd tier South African FC & List A tournament from 2006/7 till 2017/18. Namibia was also a part of the ICC Intercontinental Cup from 2004-2017.
So, whilst Namibia had a habit of turning over a lot players during these years, a core group such as Christi Viljoen, Gerrie Snyman, Craig Williams, Louis Klazinga, Brett Scholtz, the tragic Raymond Van Schoor, Stephen Baard, Branden Viret, Louis van der Westhuizen forged a pretty damn good GC & List A portfolio. Some of these blokes have played 75 + FC games.
In the latter years of their FC status players like JJ Smit, Zane Green, Erasmus, JP Kotze emerged but they were the youth & hadnt quite developed.
When Ireland & Afghanistan were granted test status, the InterContinental Trophy stopped but Namibia were granted, with others, official 20/20 & odi status.
So really, this is not quite a "sudden" emergence.
Namibia toured Zimbabwe in 1990/1 & Zimbabwe A toured Namibia in 2002/3, 03/04 & 04/05.
I'm a member of cricketarchive.com & they provide a section of all tournaments in each country. Obviously, they rely on contributors. In the Namibian section, they gave details of the Namibian Club Premier League 2012/13. That's the only year given detail. But surely it still exists in some format.
In 2019/20 & 2020/21 the site provides details of the T20 Richelieu Franchise comps. Sadly, it doesn't detail the schools cricket.
I will say the following as an observation.
It is in only recent years the coloured population has penetrated the national team & mostly fast bowlers.
I'm very surprised I don't see any sub continent names bar one in their domestic comps. I mean, not even a spin bowler!
Ruben Trumppelmann has played the last couple of years for Northerns in the CSA Provincial comp. If he's a saffer whose sees an international cricket pathway though Namibia, aren't Zimbabwe concerned or interested in any South Africans who may want to wonder? I mean, you are wanting for opening bats, spinners & maybe a keeper. This last comment should have it's own thread, maybe.
Anyway, I thought I'd provide these details. Welcome for comments & areas I've missed. Apologies to any cricketers I've missed.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:43 am
by sloandog
A lot of the players you mentioned up top, particularly from the 2002/03 era, were very average. Danny Keulder and Gerry Snyman were the only two, in my opinion, worthy of being mentioned as potential international quality. Snyman was rapid when he was younger and almost got an IPL deal had it not been for his back giving up; i think he ended up bowling quick off spin. Murgatroyd, Koetze x 2 and the Burgers were club cricketers. JB Burger had some flare and he played some serious stokes in his 85 against England, but overall he was never going to cut it. As you rightly said, Raymond Van Schoor was going to be quality. I personally watched him bat when he played league cricket in Lancashire in 2014 and he was brilliant.

The crop of players emerging in the current set up are 10 times more talented and, naturally, the player depth has increased significantly. The fact that David Wiese has made himself available for the Namibian national side suggests there's a future now in there set up. They have some pretty high profile coaches and they've just secured a big sponsorship deal.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 10:53 am
by jaybro
Namibia certainly are in the rise, I’m actually fairly confident that they would beat Zimbabwe in ODI & t20 cricket, not just a once off either, I think in a a series they’d win.

As I’ve previously said I think the addition of Namibia into the Zimbabwe domestic setup, or even just the players into the franchise squads would boost the quality of the three competitions.

With the likes of Trumpleman & Wiese defecting from South Africa to Namibia, I think we could see more South Africans make the move, especially if Namibia start to get more fixtures.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Sun Sep 26, 2021 11:21 am
by ZIMDOGGY
Namibia is by all accounts a good place to live by Africa standard. I’ve always wondered why we haven’t seen saffers- especially afrikaners- jump ship more often.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2021 3:06 am
by slcricfan1
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/icc ... -scorecard

Know this is just u19 level but Im having trouble understanding how good these African teams are. I thought Namibia was comfortably the third best African team but seeing countries as irrelevant as Tanzania beating Namibia confuses me a little bit.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 1:28 pm
by sam_ahm
Namibia take a bow!!!

What a win, they've beaten the Netherlands. The CWC champions and the T20 WCQ champions.

Top class stuff👏👏👏👏👏

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Fri Oct 22, 2021 6:30 am
by sam_ahm
Big day for Namibian cricket. They can make the super 12 of a World Cup event today.

Unlikely, as I think Ireland should win, but you never know.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 2:38 pm
by sloandog
This is by a country mile the best side Namibia have ever had...ever.
They have a lot of depth in their bowling which is really impressive. JJ Smit looks to be a seriously good allrounder and Trumpleman has some pace!

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:32 am
by sam_ahm
Something is terribly wrong with Namibia, they are on a losing spree and seem to be no end to this.

Re: Namibian cricket

Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2023 9:56 am
by jaybro
sam_ahm wrote:
Thu Feb 23, 2023 8:32 am
Something is terribly wrong with Namibia, they are on a losing spree and seem to be no end to this.
Could just be playing in foreign conditions, lots of teams struggle in Asia