Express News Service
CHENNAI: October 28, 2018. The umpire at the bowler’s end signals play. This little act signals the beginning of an outlandish Namibian dream to qualify for what was then the 2020 edition of the T20 World Cup. Their opponents that day was Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland). Namibia had little problems in running them down. Playing in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital, they finished second in the African sub-regional qualifier, to advance to the regional qualifier. In the six-team final in Uganda, Namibia, one of the smallest cricketing nations (population 2.5 mn) to have played in the 50-over World Cup, finished second to progress to the global qualifier.
In the UAE in 2019, they advanced to the qualifiers where they beat Oman to rubber-stamp their ticket to one of the sport’s most glamorous events: the T20 World Cup, their first global ICC event since 2003.
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Like every nation up and down the cricketing spectrum, the African nation, too had its fair share of problems. A lack of matches hurt their progress but what has kept them in good stead is the beginning of a new T20 competition: Richelieu T20 meet. Having already conducted two seasons, the players were well versed in the format’s grammar and language. The likes of Craig Williams, JJ Smit, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Zane Green, Gerhard Erasmus, Jan Frylinck and Ruben Trumpelmann, players who wouldn’t have normally got T20 gigs, ended up playing in their own league for two years running.
They also secured the services of David Wiese, a T20 specialist who was with the South African team in the 2016 edition. Unlike others who didn’t have that much experience of playing the sport at the elite level, Wiese, who was part of the inaugural Hundred, knows the format inside out. He has played in the Caribbean Premier League, Indian Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League and the Pakistan Super League. That’s why when he made himself available to represent Namibia (his father was born there), the cricket board wasted no time in bringing him into the fold three weeks before the squads had to be submitted.
Namibia’s association with South Africa don’t end there — considering they share a border with them, that’s not a surprise. Two of their support staff are South Africans: Pierre de Bruyn (coach) and Albie Morkel (support staff). Even before a ball had been sent down in Group A, there was a belief that any team in the group could qualify. As far as Namibia were concerned, they believed they were in with a chance because of their Nos 4, 5, and 6.
One only had to listen to De Bruyn. He called his middle-order of Erasmus, Wiese and Smit ‘the bomb squad’. The thinking behind that term was simple. Wiese, somebody who has played over 270 games, would provide the stardust. Skipper Erasmus would steady the ship before launching at the end and Smit, capable with both bat and ball, would lend the finishing kick apart from chipping in with wickets.
That middle-order came to life over the last three days. Chasing a steep 165, Erasmus (32 off 22), Wiese (66 n.o off 40 ) and Smit (14 n.o off 8) engineered a thrilling heist after they were 52/3 from 8.2 overs. In a must-win game against Ireland on Friday, Wiese and Erasmus completed the act to take them through. Needing 126 on a tricky Sharjah track, an unbeaten 53-run stand took them home. Home, for Namibia, in this context means not just an additional two weeks in the UAE but an automatic place in next year’s T20 World Cup.
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Just before the team departed for the UAE, De Bruyn said the team’s ambition was to qualify for the Super 12 stage. “The impact (qualifying for the Super 12s) for Namibian cricket would be massive. It means automatic qualification for next year’s T20 World Cup and the financial benefit that comes with it.”
They began this road in Botswana against Eswatini more than 1100 days ago. And you could kind of see why there wasn’t a dry eye in all of Sharjah when the curtains came done on Friday.
Brief scores: Ireland 125/8 in 20 ovs (P Stirling 38; Frylinck 3/21) lost to Namibia 126/2 in 18.3 ovs (Erasmus 53 n.o).
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