Maqonda Ndlovu
Cricket Namibia (CN) says the Richelieu T20 franchise is set to rock Namibia this month.
The tournament will feature the country’s top 50 players, who will compete amongst themselves in four franchise teams owned by CN.
CN CEO Johan Muller told New Era Sport that they have this year changed the model of the tournament from teams being owned by corporate companies to all the teams being owned by the union.
“We wanted to go more into international ownership – but unfortunately, that model did not materialise. We are, however, fortunate to have international players partaking in this tournament. There are four from South Africa, six from Pakistan and two from Jersey,” Muller said.
He said the tournament is part of the identification platform for national coaches to see the talent coming through.
“All Namibia national team players must play in this tournament to allow the coach to see how top local club players perform against national team players at the highest level. Everything is in place for this tournament to kick off,” Muller explained.
The CEO also said the players coming from outside Namibia see this tournament as an opportunity to grow; hence, finances do not really matter, further indicating that the four players from South Africa are also eligible to play for Namibia.
“It is an opportunity for us to assess them and see their quality, compared to what we already have as a country. We are not paying them anything, but we assist them with accommodation and some local expenses,” he said.
The tournament will also serve as a skills transfer from national team players to local clubs and juniors, as there are about nine top under-19 players who will be part of these teams.
“These junior players will get an opportunity to play against national team players and learn from them. This tournament helps us develop youngsters quicker to be ready to play for the national team at a younger age,” he said.
Muller added that the domestic school season started a week ago with a record number of teams participating, while the national men’s team will face Zimbabwe soon after the franchise league (on 22 October) for a five-match T20 series.
Finally, Namibia will play a T20 World Cup qualifier against Uganda to challenge for one of the two places in Africa for the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies in 2024.