U19 World Cup | South Africa | Jan-Feb 2024

[secretzimbo]

Ya thats about right. Its a vast empty land with no water and very few people. Absolutely beautiful place. Windhoek is First World.

Most of the major Namibian towns outside of Windhoek look nice also, Swakopmund for example where whites are in fact the majority. I do see Swakopmund has a cricket club that plays in a coastal league so something must exist there.

Walvis Bay is great too. A fair few family holidays to visit an old aunt there when I was younger. Haven’t been back to Namibia for many years, really need to.

[secretzimbo]

Went to Swakopmund once and it was nearly all German speakers. This was almost 20 years ago.

[secretzimbo]

Their white population is at least 3-4x bigger than ours. Although their cricketing heritage is still a lot less established. I presume their participation numbers are actually even lower than ours but clearly at the high performance level they are doing something right.

They benefit from a huge crossover with SA and SA schools though. It seems most Afrikaners in SA can claim some Namibian ancestry somehow or find a way to move there if necessary.

We really don’t have many Afrikaners left here at all. Presumably there’s lots in SA and elsewhere who could find some distant Zim link if they really tried though

[secretzimbo]

I went to school with a lot of Afrikaans heritage kids here (although none of them spoke the language). There were plenty of Frenkie van de Cocks then but they seem to have almost entirely disappeared now.

[sam_ahm]

Afghanistan knocked out in the very first round. Nepal make it to Super 6!!!

[mnelson68]

Huge wins for Nepal and West Indies

[Googly]

Their white population is at least 3-4x bigger than ours. Although their cricketing heritage is still a lot less established. I presume their participation numbers are actually even lower than ours but clearly at the high performance level they are doing something right.

They benefit from a huge crossover with SA and SA schools though. It seems most Afrikaners in SA can claim some Namibian ancestry somehow or find a way to move there if necessary.

We really don’t have many Afrikaners left here at all. Presumably there’s lots in SA and elsewhere who could find some distant Zim link if they really tried though

Well it would be interesting to see what their club cricket is like. I'd think its stronger than ours.
Obviously water is a problem in Namibia. Windhoek is on a huge aquifer, meaning it's not forever. The water is actually piped nearly 400km to Swakopmund and Walvis on the coast, which is desert as you know.
There's vast amounts of money being donated (billions) to attempt a reforestation across the South Sahara to arrest the inexorable southward march of the desert. The literature says a massive forest belt will actually change the rainfall pattern. If they're successful it will mean less rainfall for Southern Africa and we are in huge trouble here with diminishing rainfall patterns. In the long term the only way is to counter the North African initiative with a massive combined reforestation program in Sub Saharan Africa.
Imagine the international community providing billions for reforestation I think between the 6 or so Presidents they'd plant 1 ceremonial tree each.
Mozambique has been decimated by our new masters, theyve lost 90% of their forests in the last 10 years. Malawi barely has a tree. Namibia and Botswana certainly don't.

Here's an interesting one- the largest man made forest in the world is.....?
Johannesburg, and it brings rain and storms, there's no doubt. The Xhosa will hack their way thru their leafy suburbs soon enough. Years to build days to break.

[Kriterion_BD]

Afghanistan knocked out in the very first round. Nepal make it to Super 6!!!

They got knocked out in the first round of the Asia Cup as well! They've had a poor run for a while now at U19 level after dominating a few years back.

[Kriterion_BD]

The six major nations outside of the big three are actually playing more tests now that they were 10 years ago, the problem is that none of them can beat the big three at home or away anymore. South Africa was the last non-big three to regularly taste success against the big three and even they have fallen away. Does anyone ever see Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or West Indies ever winning a series in India, Australia, or England again?

Almost every touring team wins a Test in England. Sri Lanka and West Indies have won Tests in England in the past decade, and they'd win a couple more if they toured more often. Heck Bangladesh could probably win a Test in England too, the way the conditions are and how inconsistent England are at home.

The bottom 6 are actually fairly competitive at home...they have some dips in form, but West Indies just won a series vs England a year ago. Bangladesh has beaten England and Australia in their most recent tours to BD (granted its been 7-8 years). Bangladesh almost beat India last year as well. And I'm sure Pakistan would be the most competitive of that group at home vs the Big 3. The you have NZ and SA who are still formidable at home, regardless of the strength of the opposition.

[secretzimbo]

Afghanistan knocked out in the very first round. Nepal make it to Super 6!!!

They got knocked out in the first round of the Asia Cup as well! They've had a poor run for a while now at U19 level after dominating a few years back.

Nepal beating Afghanistan yesterday is not a good thing for Nepal. Hilariously it means that Afghanistan will finish bottom of their group and if we win today, then that means Afghanistan are not in the top 11 full members and therefore don’t automatically qualify for the next edition. They’ll be in the Asia qualifier…with Nepal.

So by winning yesterday, Nepal have actually made it harder for themselves to qualify for the next event.

What a stupid sport