Eagles aim to topple the mighty Proteas

A mouth-watering T20 international – the first-ever senior cricket clash between Namibia and South Africa – will serve as a ground-breaking opening occasion of the newly-built FNB Namibia Cricket Ground in Olympia on Saturday.Captain Gerhard Erasmus and his FNB Eagles team returned from Harare earlier this week after completing a tour of more than three weeks, where Zimbabwe and Namibia became the two continental qualifiers to the ICC T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka next year.The latter success – qualifying for their fourth consecutive ICC T20 World Cup since their debut in the Emirates in 2021 – will be a great inspiration to the Eagles players and fans, at the historic clash against South Africa at the long-awaited home stadium for Namibian cricket.Cricket Namibia already announced on Monday that tickets for the match have been sold out at the stadium with an estimated 5,000 capacity. Fans were encouraged to follow the live broadcast (https://q.my.na/THMK).Overall viewCompared to Namibia – whose most significant cricket achievements have been in the T20 format during the current “golden age” under Erasmus’ captaincy – the Proteas represent a nation that has been firmly established at the top levels of every format of the sport since the 1880s, when the England test team first toured South Africa.The current T20 world rankings place South Africa at fifth, behind only India (first), Australia, England and New Zealand.Namibia is this week ranked 16th in the short format – behind Zimbabwe (12th), Netherlands, Scotland and the Emirates (15th).South Africa’s debut in a T20 international appearance was on 21 October 2005, when Graeme Smith’s team lost by five wickets to Stephen Fleming’s New Zealand in Johannesburg.The Proteas’ two most recent T20I was during their tour to England last month, where South Africa won a rain-affected match in Cardiff, before losing in Birmingham (Phil Salt hit 141 off 60 balls) to draw the series 1-1.In contrast, Namibia’s first T20 international is listed as the 9-wicket win against Ghana in Kampala, where captain Stephen Baard was named player of the match (52* off 34 balls).The Eagles’ most recent T20 international was last Saturday in Harare, where they posted 167/6 against Zimbabwe, who overtook the total to win by seven wickets.The De Kock factorSouth Africa’s prominent opening batsman and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock recently made a well-publicised U-turn on his earlier international retirement, and is expected to play a mentoring role to the young generation of batsmen.De Kock, now 32, was in blistering form at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA last year – scoring the most runs for South Africa (243 at a strike rate of 140.4, which contained two fifties and one century). The Proteas reached the final of the T20 World Cup for the first time, but lost to India.The Proteas this week field a new-look T20 squad compared to last year. Only the veteran batters De Kock and Reeza Hendricks, seam bowler Ottniel Baartman and spinner Bjorn Fortuin remain, while other well-known names from 2024 are currently utilised in the one-day format.By contrast, Namibia will field a very similar core of ten players that travelled to the West Indies last year, namely Gerhard Erasmus, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Malan Kruger, Zane Green, Ruben Trumpelmann, Dylan Leicher, Jack Brassell, Ben Shikongo and Bernard Scholtz.In the only change to the squad that toured to Zimbabwe, Namibia has opted to bring in Max Heingo, seam bowler for the national U19 team this year, in place of Alexander Volschenk, who returned to study commitments in Pretoria.NAMIBIA FNB EAGLES SQUADGerhard Erasmus (captain)Malan KrugerLouren SteenkampJC BaltJan FrylinckNicol Loftie-EatonJJ SmitZane GreenRuben TrumpelmannDylan LeicherJan-Izak de VilliersBen ShikongoJack BrassellBernard ScholtzMax HeingoSOUTH AFRICA PROTEAS SQUADQuinton de KockLhuan-dré PretoriusReeza HendricksRubin HermannDonovan Ferreira (captain) Jason SmithRivaldo MoonsamyAndile SimelaneBjorn FortuinGerald CoetzeeNandré BurgerOttniel BaartmanNqaba PeterLizaad Williams

Eagles aim to topple the mighty Proteas

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Republikein 2026-01-21

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Eagles aim to topple the mighty Proteas

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