Namibian cricket’s amazing journey continued with the announcement on Tuesday that it will co-host the Cricket World Cup along with South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2027.
Hot off the heels of Namibia’s brilliant performances at the T20 World Cup in the UAE, the latest news has sent a flurry of excitement through the local cricket community and underlined Namibian cricket’s growing stature on the world stage.
It will be the first time that Namibia will co-host a major international World Cup tournament, and the first time in 24 years that the Cricket World Cup returns to Africa since South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya co-hosted it in 2003.
Cricket Namibia’s CEO Johan Muller said it will provide a huge boost for Namibia.
“The whole country will benefit from the exposure and it will be a massive boost for Namibian tourism. With the top countries in the world coming we can expect a huge influx of tourists, so it will provide an economic boost for Namibia, as well as new business opportunities,” he said.
“We have been allocated one stadium to host matches, but we don’t know how many matches we will host yet and who will play, because the whole qualifying process must still take place,” he said, adding that the venue must also still be confirmed.
Ït’s not venue-based and it won’t necessarily be at Wanderers,” he said, adding that Cricket Namibia was still in the process of building its own ground.
Muller said that Namibia’s performance at the T20 World Cup did not influence the decision, because the bid documents had to be submitted a month before the World Cup. He also lauded the role that Patricia Kambarami, the ICC regional development manager for Africa played along with Cricket South Africa.
“Patricia initiated the whole process; she had a lot of negotiations with Cricket South Africa about our involvement in the World Cup over a five-month period. She showed a lot of commitment and now it has become a reality,” he said, adding that Cricket Namibia will be up to the task to host a great event.
“Regarding capacity, we will have to make sure that it is well organised and if we need assistance, we will find out from the best what to do.”
Regarding the T20 World Cup, Muller said the national team had exceeded their expectations.
“We are very proud of our team’s performance at the T20 World Cup. We were quietly optimistic that we’d beat one Associate member country, but then with each win we set new targets, and to beat the Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland who are all ranked above us is an incredible achievement.”
Cricket, meanwhile continues unabated with the local 50-over league having started last weekend, while the national team will once again be in action from next weekend, when Namibia hosts a three-nation Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament against Oman and the UAE.
The tournament forms part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualification process, which started two years ago and will be concluded in early 2023.
Oman have established a big lead at the top of the log on 27 points from 18 matches, followed by Scotland on 16 from 12 matches and the United States on 14 from 16 matches.
They are followed by Nepal and Namibia who are both on eight points, although they have only played eight and seven matches respectively, and will be looking to narrow the gap at the coming tournament.