Francois Erasmus was re-elected as the president of Cricket Namibia at its annual general meeting in Windhoek on Saturday.
The other board members who were elected are Neil Rossouw as the Director of Players’ Affairs, Kallie Engelbrecht as the Director of Cricket Affairs, Franklin Green as the as the Director of Development and Hannes du Plessis as the Director of Marketing.
At the AGM, Erasmus, stated that cricket had grown by leaps and bounds in Namibia, not only in playing numbers but also in stature. According to CN’s statistics, both junior and senior playing numbers have grown by more than 20 per cent over the previous year.
Erasmus thanked his board members for their hard work.
“To the members of my board, gentlemen I do not believe that people always realize how much time and effort you put in, in order for Cricket Namibia to achieve its goals and maintain its reputation of good corporate governance. I am really proud, to have been associated with you all.”
Erasmus also thanked CN’s CEO Graham McMillan, Development Manager Marsia Reed and national coach Johan Rudolph.
“To our new CEO, Graham McMillan, you have come in as a total outsider and have taken big strides in achieving the goals you have set for yourself and Cricket Namibia. I am extremely excited at what I have seen from you together with Marsia Reed and her staff and I believe we shall see further results very soon. To Johan Rudolph, our national coach, I want to say that the last year took a tremendous effort to qualify for the U19 Cricket World Cup and to win seven T20 games consecutively in Dubai and to make sure that the national side is rightfully the number one Associate team in Africa again. Congratulations.”
Erasmus also announced that former CEO of Cricket Namibia Laurie Pieters had been elected as the new patron of Cricket Namibia, following the passing of Harald Pupkewitz.
“Laurie your contribution has been exemplary and your legacy is there for all to see. I know that cricket will always be your number one sport,” he said.
Erasmus said the future of CN looked bright and highlighted some upcoming events.
CN will send the national women’s team to Tanzania to play in the ICC/Africa T20 qualifying tournament.
Namibia’s boys age group teams will travel to South Africa to participate in development and national age group tournaments.
The national Under 19 team will compete in the Under 19 Cricket World Cup in Australi in August.
Namibia’s national A team will play a full series against Guernsey at home, while the national senior squad will once again compete in the Cricket South Africa series as well as the ICC Intercontinental Cup competition.
There is also a possibility that a West Indies Academy side will tour Namibia later in the year.
At the Awards Ceremony on Saturday evening, Erasmus also awarded the President’s Cup to Louis Vorster who was tragically murdered on April 17. Erasmus said that Vorster had played a big role in developing cricket in Namibia, and that he would be greatly missed.