Cricket

Namibia’s national Under 19 cricket team left for Uganda on Thursday to compete in the African qualifiers for next year’s Junior World Cup.

Only the winning team will qualify for the 2014 Junior World Cup in Dubai, but at a capping ceremony on Wednesday night the team was in high spirits and determined to qualify.

Namibia qualified for last year’s Junior World Cup in Australia and with five members of the 14-man squad remaining from that team, their chances are good of qualifying for the second successive time.

Namibia won the T20 Four Nations trophy on Wednesday after beating Kenya by five wickets off the last ball of the match.

In a thrilling finish Namibia needed 15 runs off the final over and a big six by captain Sarel Burger helped them reach the total.

Kenya had earlier posted a formidable total of 187 for 5 with all their top order batsmen weighing in with good contributions.

Tanmay Mishra top scored with 68 from 53 balls while Alex Obanda scored 30, Morris Ouma 29 and Collins Obuya 28.

Namibia reached the final of the T20 Four Nations competition when they beat Kenya by eight wickets in their final group match on Tuesday.

Raymond van Schoor (67 not out) and LP van der Westhuizen (62) were Namibia’s heroes as they shared a 124-run second wicket partnership to steer Namibia towards a nailbiting victory with three balls remaining.

Kenya had earlier reached a big total of 190 for five wickets off their 20 overs, as most of their batsmen weighed in with valuable contributions.

Namibia lost their opening match in the T20 Four Nations tournament when they went down by seven wickets to the South African Emerging team.

Namibia set a fine total of 160 for victory, mainly through LP van der Westhuizen with a great knock of 63 off 45 balls.

Cameron Delport however guided SA to victory with 69 off 40 balls, while there were also good contributions from Yaseen Vallie (36 not out) and Jean Symes (27 not out).

Namibia got off to a dreadful start after being put in to bat as Stephan Baard was dismissed for a duck by the speedster Andrew Birch.

The Netherlands beat Namibia by one wicket in their second 50-over match at the Wanderers field on Thursday to win their World Cricket League Championship series 2-0.

Namibia scored 236 for five wickets off their 50 overs, a total that was once again not enough as Holland reached 240 for nine with 12 balls remaining.

The result means that Holland have entrenched their second position on the log behind Ireland and stand a good chance of qualifying directly for the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

Cricket Namibia will host a T20 Four Nations Tournament against the Netherlands, Kenya and an Emerging South African team at the Wanderers field in Windhoek, from Saturday till next Wednesday, April 24.

According to CN CEO Graham McMillan, the aim of the tournament is to provide Namibia with more competitive matches in the T20 format, before a national squad is selected for the T20 World Cup qualifiers which take place in November in Dubai.

Holland beat Namibia by 31 runs in the first of their two ICC World Cricket League Championship matches at the Wanderers field on Tuesday.

Holland set an imposing target of 269 for victory and despite a great century by Craig Williams, Namibia were always playing catch up and finished well short of the target at the end.

Namibia elected to field after winning the toss and got off to a great start as Louis Klazinga struck with two great deliveries within the first five overs.

Cricket Namibia on Monday announced the squads for the final fixtures of the fifth round of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL), to be played in Namibia.

Namibia will host the Netherlands at Wanderers, Windhoek, in two crucial WCL Championship 50-over encounters on Tuesday and on Thursday.

A 2-0 victory for the Netherlands in the WCL Championship would see the Dutch take second position in the Championship, with only two rounds remaining in the seven round competition.

Namibia emerged victorious after beating Holland by 82 runs in an enthralling Intercontinental Cup match at the Wanderers field on Sunday.

Fortunes swayed to and fro as there was not much separating the two teams from the start, and when play started on Sunday, Holland needed 320 runs and Namibia 10 wickets for victory.

Holland made their intentions clear, attacking Namibia’s bowling from the start, as they raced to 50 at more than six runs an over.

Namibia set Holland a victory target of 320 runs after scoring 336 all out in their second innings at stumps on the third day of their Intercontinental Cup match Saturday.

Namibia lost their first two wickets for 56 runs with Pikky Ya France out for 11 and Xander Pitchers for 25, but Stephan Baard and Craig Williams put Namibia in the driving seat with a 128-run partnership for the third wicket.

Williams was run out for 65 off 76 balls after a fine piece of fielding by Tim Gruiters.