Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Namibia’s Under-19 Cricket team defeated hosts Tanzania in their opening match of the African Cricket Championship underway in Dar es Salaam.
The match was the first of the youth championship on Saturday with the visitors scoring 187 runs all out, while their opponents could only muster a paltry 85 runs all out.
Fritz Coetzee took 5 wickets that earned the Namibian youngster the man of the match award. Overall winners of the ongoing continental championship will earn automatic qualification to the 2016 Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh. The runners-up will be have to fight it out in an intercontinental qualifying tourney for the remaining final spot in Bangladesh.
Namibia’s remaining matches are against Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Botswana for a place at the 2016 World Cup. The reigning champions should have little trouble carving themselves a final spot in the global youth cup having won the 2013 Africa Championships in Uganda, where they saw off Kenya in the final to qualify for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup.
Namibia’s new
fixtures are:
Sunday – Namibia vs Nigeria
Monday – Namibia vs Botswana
Wednesday – Namibia vs Uganda
Thursday – Namibia vs Kenya -Nampa