Cricket Namibia has been awarded the International Cricket Council (ICC) Associate Member Men’s Performance Team of the Year accolade following a successful 2019, which saw the national team qualify for the 2020 T20 finals for the first time.

Namibia’s national cricket team, also known as the Eagles, also attained One Day Internationals (ODI) status following a comprehensive victory over Hong Kong in Windhoek in the same year.

Cricket Namibia chief executive officer, Johan Muller, said this is a wonderful milestone for the country and paid tribute to the Eagles’ players and technical team, saying their hard work has paid off. “The qualification means we can now have 17 players on full-time contracts and through this, we are the only sporting code in Namibia that has turned full-time professional. This also means that high-quality cricket will now be played on home soil, increasing the exposure of the game,” Muller said. He also paid tribute to the board, whom he said had worked very hard to clear the association’s debt. This means there is now more money for the development of players, umpires and administrators. Ninety-two teams were competing for the same award as Namibia. – Nampa