Maqonda Ndlovu
The Namibia National Cricket Team, the Richelieu Eagles, have moved one place up to 12th on the International Cricket Council world rankings after their 3-2 victory over test-playing nation Zimbabwe recently.
The rankings were released immediately after the series victory over Zimbabwe last month, where Namibia came from 2-1 games down to win the series 3-2.
Speaking to New Era Sport on Wednesday, Eagle coach Pierre de Bruyne said this is a massive milestone for the country, and the feeling amongst the players, management board and technical team is that they are proud of the achievement.
“This is certainly a very special historical moment for Namibia to be ranked 12 in T20 cricket. It’s incredible. It means we are getting closer and closer to the big teams, and that’s ultimately what we want,” he said.
De Bruyne said the work now lies with working hard and performing well, maintaining a 65%-to-70%-win rate in the teams’ T20 internationals.
He emphasised that the Eagles have to continuously play and beat teams ranked higher than them to sustain or improve the ranking.
“That’s ultimately where you get your ranking points. We need to consistently play international T20 matches against teams like Ireland and Zimbabwe again, and try to push for Bangladesh and Afghanistan. That is how we can break through even further and break into the top 10. We have built up a reputation in the last five years, where playing against Namibia is now competitive,” he explained.
De Bruyne said he was happy that Namibia has retained its one-day cricket status, which was a priority for him.
“This gives us another three-year cycle in the Cricket World League 2. There are eight teams, and we are currently 18th, having moved from 24th in 2019. The aim is to end up in the top one or two of league two and improve our rankings even more,” he said.
The Eagles coach said playing Test cricket is a distant dream, as ICC rules make it close to impossible for smaller cricket-playing nations to test their skills against the big guns of the sport, as there are no qualification formats.
According to the ICC, Namibia is on 194 ranking points, just behind Zimbabwe, who are ranked 11th on 195 points.
India is the top-ranked country in T20 cricket with 265 ranking points, followed by England (259) and New Zealand (255), while Australia (252) and Pakistan (251) complete the top five.