Namibia players celebrate after beating Ireland to qualify for the Super 12 on Friday. – GETTY IMAGES
Cricket in Sharjah has a long and colorful past. Sachin Tendulkar’s desert storm, Javed Miandad’s six, and Wasim Akram’s hat tricks are all famous parts of his cricket lineage. Namibia’s eight-wicket win over Ireland in Sharjah at the T20 World Cup on Friday was therefore only appropriate for a place that is bookmarked in the pages of cricket history and reached the Super 12 stage for the first time at the T20 World Cup. Until this edition, Namibia had never been to a T20 World Cup and has not taken part in a major event since the 50-over World Cup in 2003. The International Cricket Council has 94 associate members, including countries such as Brazil, the Philippines and Russia. Namibia’s head coach Pierre de Bruyn sees Namibia’s performance so far – it previously beat the Netherlands for its first World Cup victory – shows once again why the sport should encourage emerging nations.
« It’s been booming in the last three years. I’m close to most associate coaches, and associate cricket is very important to the global game, » he told Sportstar Cups. We saw what they are capable of at this World Cup. Scotland shocked Bangladesh and Namibia made Super 12 … so for me Associated Cricket is growing rapidly and it needs to be respected. We want to play more against full members. Associate cricket is a platform for players to develop and a platform for teams to compete – the Netherlands and Scotland are great examples. We want to make sure we’re competitive and professional. «
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The raging Covid-19 pandemic shuddered competitive cricket in 2020, but de Bruyn described it as an opportunity to develop. « We weren’t in any of the official T20 games in 2020, but we still managed to play games between the squads. We managed to gain some time for Namibia. Above all, I mean development time that players scale up. JJ Smit has Time to recover from his. » Knee injury. David Wiese and Ruben Trumpelmann were given time to sort their passports. 2020 was a year of development – it was a year in which we were able to take stock and scale. « Wiese, a former South African all-rounder, was one of Namibia’s most influential stars at this World Cup with bat and ball. Namibia has a South African coaching staff headed by de Bruyn, with former international Albie Morkel as assistant and east coach Richard das Neves as advisor.
« In 2019, when I got the job, I approached Albie and asked him to join me. He brings a fantastic balance to my coaching style – he’s someone who has been a match winner for many years. Albie and I have come a long way. « – we have played together for many years and have been friends for more than 20 years. The knowledge he brings has a huge influence on the way we work as a team in the game, but de Bruyn knows There’s still a lot to be done. ”To develop as an associate, having your own facility with world class resources and full time staff is non-negotiable through the system to ensure your teens have a two-way education – stay in the system. Investing in players to add to the pool is a must. «
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