Windhoek
Namibia’s U/19 cricket side has entered its final preparation phase ahead of the 50-Over World Cup, which kicks off in Bangladesh on the 22nd of this month.
The final squad of 15 players, led by Captain Zane Green, met in Windhoek last week Wednesday to undergo various training aspects including bowling, batting, fielding and fitness. The camp will run until January 17 before the team departs on Monday, January 18.
Head coach Rangarirai ‘Norbert’ Manyande is assisted by Steven Berry and Fortune Matawu, while Andre Schmidlin is team manager and Mark Clint Henry will take care of the player’s wellbeing as physio.
To get some playing time before the trip, the juniors also faced the Namibian A side in two matches. In the first match the juniors beat the A team by 7 wickets after bowling the A team out for 181. On Sunday, the A team bowled the U/19’s out for 199, winning the game by 4 wickets.
Namibia will face hosts Bangladesh, South Africa and Scotland in group A. “It’s a tough group”, as stated by Cricket Namibia’s CEO Donovan Zealand a couple of weeks ago. First up, they face Scotland on January 29, followed by South Africa two days later before taking on the home side on February 2.
Before the first group game, the junior Eagles will have a chance to gain some valuable experience when they face England on January 23 and Zimbabwe on January 25 in two warm-up matches.