MEDIA REPORT
2 October 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cricket Namibia held a Send Off event for the National Men’s cricket team leaving for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Qualifier that will be hosted in UAE, Dubai. The team will depart for Dubai on 8th October 2019 and will start with warm-up T20 matches before taking on their first official match against the Netherlands on 19 October at 12:10 pm.
The Send Off was a celebration of the achievement of being one of the 14 countries that made it to participate in the T20 World Cup Qualifier. This was a great platform to showcase the growth of cricket in Namibia and to create awareness of the sport code in our country.
Namibia recently participated in an ODI tri-series against PNG and USA which was hosted in the USA and the Eagles had a great performance. Cricket Namibia is hoping for the team to carry a positive spirit and momentum along to the Qualifiers. With the team now playing cricket on a professional level, not only is Cricket Namibia excited, but it is encouraging to see young players merging through Cricket Namibia’s pathway.
Cricket Namibia Vice-President, Mr. Polly Negongo said that the National Men’s team achievement should encourage the squad to keep the momentum going and work even harder. “Good luck, play hard and I know you can do it! Your performance over the past months have shown your capability.”
Newly appointed CEO of Cricket Namibia, Mr. Johan Muller was present at the Send Off and thanked all past sponsors that have been supportive of Cricket Namibia. “Your support and commitment is the reason we are able to send off professional cricketers to the World Cup Qualifier. To all our current and new sponsors, I would like to guarantee that we are committed to present the best administrative support to your brand and we are excited to work together on this journey to achieve a common goal. We would like to partner with all media houses to make sure that all cricket programs in Namibia get exposure.”
The Squad departing for Dubai was sponsored suitcases by the Janine and Suzelle Davin Trust who was represented by Mr. Francois Erasmus. The trust was created to award excellence in sports and to help sports code perform on an international level. The Trust associate themselves with excellence and decided to sponsor Cricket Namibia National players as they are one of the top sports codes on and off the field.
It has been a roller coaster year for the team; Namibia hosted the World Cricket League 2 in April of which the Eagles won, the team participated in the T20 Africa Finals in Uganda and they came out victorious which then led them qualifying for the upcoming T20 World Cup Qualifier.
The 15 players that will make up the squad to represent Namibia in the qualifiers are; Gerhard Erasmus (c), Jan Frylinck (v/c), Bernard Scholtz, Helao Ya France, JJ Smit, Tangeni Lungameni, Zane Green, Christi Viljoen, Stephen Baard, Ben Shikongo, Craig Williams, Zhivago Groenewald, Niko Davin, Karl Birkenstock and JP Kotze.
Prepared by Natalia Nauyoma
Marketing Manager
Cricket Namibia
+264 61 223 818