The Namibians stood triumphant in a critical ICC Africa U19 qualifying game on Sunday to secure a berth from the region at the next year’s junior World Cup in Sri Lanka. The Namibians defeated Nigeria to complete their unbeaten run through the competition played in Tanzania.
The Walvis Bay Salt Eagles had earlier hammered hosts Tanzania, Kenya, and Sierra Leone and played out a rain-abandoned fixture versus Uganda.
Namibia, a world cricket associate darkhorse rising through the ladder, now join Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, Ireland, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe in the tournament proper.
With triumphs in each of their previous three completed fixtures and the draw versus Uganda, Namibia only needed to avoid a heavy NRR dent in a potential loss versus Nigeria to propel through. But they left nothing to chance by defeating their opponents comprehensively.
A ticket to the U-19 World Cup is a major boost to Namibia’s talent pipeline and opens up channels for greater funding and financial influx from the ICC. Hence it was a cause of major celebrations for skipper Alexander Busing-Volschenk.
“I am really happy. It actually means more than the world for a young guy like me in Namibia to have a chance to go to the World Cup in Sri Lanka,”
said Alexander with Namibia reentering the men’s U19 World Cup for the first time since 2016.
“For me, it means that the time, hard work and the hard yards that we have put in have been rewarded. We want to show them that we are competitive and that we can give anyone a run for their money. I think the guys will work hard on that in the next six months to come.”
With one youth World Cup qualification pathway spot confirmed, all eyes are now on the European region to determine the final qualifying side. Hosts Netherlands, Guernsey, Italy, Jersey, Norway and Scotland will battle it out for supremacy from October 6 to 12 in the ICC U-19 Europe Qualifiers to finalise the 16 teams to contest the junior World Cup.
