Maqonda Ndlovu
Four Namibian cricket players were last week drafted to three different teams that will participate in the third edition of the Global T20 Canada 20-over cricket tournament scheduled for 20 July to 6 August 2023.
The left-handed batsman and left-arm medium-fast bowler Jan Nicolaas Frylinck will join Brampton Wolves where he will play alongside Harbhajan Singh, Colin de Grandhomme and Tim Southee amongst others.
The right-handed batsman and left-arm fast-bowling Ruben Trumpelmann will join Vancouver Knights alongside Mohamed Rizwan, Rassie van der Dussen and Naveen ul Haq.
Eagles captain and vice-captain Gerhard Merwe Erasmus and Johannes Jonathan Smit will link up with Toronto Nationals.
They will play alongside Shahid Afridi, Colin Munro and Fazhalhaq Farooqi.
Six teams are participating, namely Montreal Tigers, Toronto Nations, Vancouver Knights, Brampton Wolves, Surrey Jaguars and Mississauga Panthers.
Each team will comprise 16 players from full and associate members.
They will include two world-renowned marquee players, four players from Associate Nations, three Canadian National team players and three Canadian emerging players.
The player draft for the third edition of the GT20 Canada was held in Mumbai on 14 June 2023.
The first edition of this tournament was held in 2018, while the second edition took place in 2019.
The 2020, 2021 and 2022 editions did not take place after the tournament was put on hold due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Canada recently regained its ODI status earlier this year, and plans to use the tournaments as a platform for Canadian cricketers to lock horns with international stars, improve their games, and take Canadian cricket forward.
– jrnmarko@gmail.com