Eagles set target to claim T20 World Cup spot

Namibia’s Capricorn Eagles, captained by Sunè Wittmann, departed from Windhoek this week to compete at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier in Nepal from 18 January. Namibia is one of ten nations that will battle it out for four places to qualify for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in England in June. The Eagles, ranked 18th in the world in T20 cricket, have the third lowest ranking amongst the ten teams, with only Nepal (21st) and USA (25st) below them. Ireland is the highest ranked nation at ninth in the world, followed by Bangladesh (10th), Scotland (11th), Thailand (12th), Papua New Guinea (13th), The Netherlands (14th) and Zimbabwe (15th). The Namibians will start their campaign in Group A with fixtures lined up against USA on 20 January, against Bangladesh two days later, against Papua New Guinea (24 January) and Ireland (26 January). Three teams from each pool will progress to a super-six phase. “Two wins and one narrow defeat could be enough for Namibia to secure its first-ever Women’s T20 World Cup qualification,” Cricket Namibia CEO Johan Müller pointed out at the team’s send-off. A taste of India As part of their preparations the Eagles will play a four-match series against the Indian state side Assam this week. Namibia will take on the Assam senior women’s team in two 50-over matches as well as two T20 matches, with the first match starting on Thursday. Form guide Most recently, the Namibians finishes seventh out of eight teams at the ICC Women Emerging Nations Trophy tournament held in Thailand during November. The Eagles beat Uganda, and lost by a single run against Papua New Guinea with a run-out off the last ball. The tournament was narrowly won by hosts Thailand, who finished level on 10 log points along with the Emirates, Netherlands and Scotland. Yasmeen Khan (138 runs, highest 41), Wittmann (105 runs, highest 53) and Wilka Mwatile (90 runs, highest 54 not out) led the batting stats for Namibia. The team’s leading wicket-takers were Naomi Benjamin (six), Mekelaye Mwatile and Leigh-Marie Visser (five each). Youthful exuberance The 15-player squad is quite young, with about half still under 23, but despite their youth they have built up valuable international experience. Three members have already won more than 100 caps for Namibia, while six more have more than 50 caps, with three now approaching their centuries. Wittmann is a key all-round performer. She made her international T20 debut seven years ago and soon cemented her place as a reliable opening batter and seam bowler, while she is now approaching her century of caps for her country, having played in 97 international T20s. Wittmann has scored 1 656 runs at an average of 18.81, including nine fifties and a top score of 93 not out. As a bowler she has picked up 53 wickets at an average of 15.58, with a best performance of five for 10 runs. Yasmeen Khan is the most capped player with 113 caps (remarkably, all consecutively), while she is also Namibia’s top run scorer, with close to 2 000 runs and a highest score of 78 not out against Nigeria four years ago. The other centurions in the team are all-rounders Kayleen Green and Arrasta Diergaardt, with 105 and 104 caps respectively. Wilka Mwatile with 99 caps and Sylvia Shihepo with 96 are also closing in on their centuries, while wicketkeeper Merczerly Gorases (79 caps), Victoria Hamunyela (69), Edelle van Zyl (62) and Mekelaye Mwatile (56) have passed the 50-mark. In fact, the only novice in the team is left-arm spinner Leigh-Marie Visser, with five caps, while all the others have more than 20 caps. The Namibian player squad: Sunè Wittmann (captain), age 30. Naomi Benjamin, age 20. Arrasta Diergaardt, age 25. Kayleen Green, age 27. Merczerly Gorases (wicketkeeper), age 20. Victoria Hamunyela, age 22. Yasmeen Khan, age 27. Eveleen Kejarukua, age 32. Mekelaye Mwatile, age 20. Wilka Mwatile, age 25. Bianca Manuel, age 23. Sylvia Shihepo, age 25. Saima Tuhadeleni, age 20. Edelle van Zyl, age 22. Leigh-Marie Visser, age 20. • The team is accompanied by head coach Francois van der Merwe, assistant coach Gerhard Lotter and strength and conditioning coach Christo van Zyl.