No rest for Eagles before mission to Zim

The FNB Namibia Eagles depart to Zimbabwe today for a three-match T20 series ahead of the crucial T20 Africa World Cup Qualifiers that start at the end of September.The Zimbabwe Cricket Board on Tuesday announced it will host Namibia in a three-match T20 series next week, with all three matches taking place at the Queens Sport Club in Bulawayo, before the World Cup Qualifiers get underway in Harare on 26 September.In Harare, Namibia and Zimbabwe will battle it out with six other African nations for the top two spots that will qualify for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February and March 2026.Namibia will compete in a group along with Malawi, Nigeria and Kenya, while the other group will be contested by Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana.The top two in each group will progress to the semi-finals. The two finalists will book their tickets for next year’s T20 World Cup.Coach Craig Williams’ men didn’t have much time to recuperate after returning from Canada last Sunday, where they played against the hosts and Scotland in the ICC World Cup League Two ODI series.Zimbabwe have been very active lately, playing against New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka.Namibia actually improved its record against Zimbabwe in recent years, having won two T20 series’ 3-2 in 2022 and 2023, while they also won a crucial T20 World Cup qualifier in Windhoek in November 2023, which ultimately put Zimbabwe out of contention for a place at the 2024 T20 World Cup.Since then, however, Zimbabwe have recovered well and are currently ranked 12th in the world in T20 cricket compared to Namibia’s 16th place.The Zimbabwe squad will be captained by Sikandar Raza, one of the world’s top all-rounders, while it includes numerous other star players like Tadiwanashe Marumani, Brian Bennet, Sean Williams, Ryan Burl, Blessing Muzarabani and Richard Ngarava.Cricket Namibia’s 15-man squad to Zimbabwe shows a few changes from the one that recently competed in Canada. Williams said all the players had been considered, but that not all of them were available due to work commitments.Openers JP Kotze and WP Myburgh have been omitted along with pace bowler Tangeni Lungameni, while Namibia u19 captain Alex Volschenk has been called up along with Louren Steenkamp, a provincial player in South Africa who will make his debut for Namibia.Steenkamp (28), whose father Hennie is a Namibian and former Outjo Hoërskool rugby player, is a top-order batter who made his first class debut for North West in 2017, before later joining Limpopo.The Namibian squad: Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Malan Kruger, Louren Steenkamp, JC Balt, Jan Frylinck, Nicol Loftie-Eaton (vice-captain), JJ Smit, Zane Green, Alex Volschenk, Ruben Trumpelmann, Dylan Leicher, Jan-Izak de Villiers, Ben Shikongo, Jack Brassell, Bernard Scholtz.

No rest for Eagles before mission to Zim

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Republikein 2025-11-03

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No rest for Eagles before mission to Zim

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