Cricket

Christiaan Jonker scored 120 not out as South Western Districts reached 261/6 at stumps on Thursday in their 3-Day Challenge match against Namibia.

In overcast and damp conditions, SWD won the toss and elected to bat.

They lost the wicket of Ross McMillan early, dismissed off the bowling of Christi Viljoen for 9, but the rest of their top order got stuck in to take the initiative away from the bowlers.

Burton de Wett scored 24 and Waldo Lategan 52, but it was Jonker who stole the show with a fine century. At stumps he was 120 not out off 164 balls (8x4, 4x6).

Namibia’s cricket team takes on South Western Districts in a CSA Challenge match starting at the Wanderers field on Thursday.

That is, if the weather permits. Last weekend they were supposed to play Kwazulu Natal, but there was no play at all as the 3-Day Challenge was rained out while the 1-Day Challenge was cancelled due to a wet outfield.

It has continued to rain in Windhoek throughout the week and a decision on whether play is possible will only be made on Thursday morning according to Namibian coach Johan Rudolph.

Cricket Namibia once again received international recognition for its developmental efforts when it won two awards at the 2011 Pepsi ICC Development Programme Awards.

Competing in the African continental category, Namibia won the Best Overall Cricket Development Programme as well as the Best Junior Participation Initiative at the continental awards.

As a continental winner, Namibia will now enter the final ICC global awards at the end of February.

Cricket Namibia on Tuesday announced the final 14-man squad that will represent Namibia at the T20 World Cup qualifiers in Dubai next month.

The four players who were dropped from the initial 18-man squad are opening batsman Picky Ya France, all rounders Gert Dippenaar and Bredell Wessels and bowler Christopher Coombe.

All four players are however now non travelling reserves.

Cricket Namibia has announced a preliminary squad of eighteen players who will represent Namibia at the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Qualifiers in Dubai in March. The squad will be trimmed down to the final fourteen in the next week.

Graham McMillan, CEO of Cricket Namibia said “These are the best cricketers that Namibia cricket can put into the field. We have a really tough pool in the round robin stages of the tournament, but we feel that these players will be able to get us in to the play offs of the competition.”

The CEO of Cricket Namibia, Graham McMillan has called for an improved performance by Namibia when they take on Kwazulu Natal in a Cricket South Africa (CSA) match at the Wanderers field, starting on Thursday.

Namibia are currently struggling in the three-day series and are second last on the 14-team log. They were rock bottom in the T20 competition, but are doing significantly better in the 50-over limited series where they are third on the log.

Four female Namibian cricket players were invited to the ICC-Africa Regional Office’s Senior Women’s Elite Cricket Academy from 11 to 14 February in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The aim of the academy is to enhance the players’ cricketing skills as well as motivate and enhance women’s participation in cricket in Africa.

The four players who were invited are Anneri van Schoor who captained the team at the African T20 competition held in Uganda recently, Irene van Zyl (vice captain), Carmin Liebenberg (wicket keeper) and Loraine Brink (opening batsman).

Namibia’s poor run in the Cricket South Africa series continued when they lost both their 3-Day Challenge and T20 match against Easterns in Benoni over the weekend.

In the 3-Day Challenge, Namibia won the toss and elected to bat, but they were soon in trouble as Gerhard Rudolph (3), Christi Viljoen (4) and Craig Williams (0) were all dismissed cheaply.

Pikkie Ya France (22) and Gerrie Snyman (13) gave Namibia brief hope, but after that the wickets tumbled regularly. Only new cap Gert Dippenaar (21) managed to reach double figures as Namibia were all out for a paltry 96.

North West completed a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Namibia in their T20 match in Potchefstroom on Sunday.

Namibia posted a competitive total of 182/3 off their 20 overs but North West easily reached the total for the loss of only one wicket.

Gerhard Rudolph and Ian Opperman got off to a great start and put on 92 runs for the first wicket before Rudolph was out for 41.

Opperman, who was making his T20 debut for Namibia, went on to top score with 60 runs off 45 balls (4x4, 3x6).

Christi Viljoen, the Namibian medium-pacer, has said he had waited all his life for an opportunity to play against a top international team, and was determined to do well for the ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate XI in their three-day match against England at the Global Cricket Academy ground in Dubai.

Viljoen was picked in the Combined XI primarily as a bowler, but impressed with the bat on the first day, scoring 98 to help his team recover from 122 for 7 to 281.

It was Viljoen's highest score in first-class cricket, and only his third half-century.