Cricket Namibia (CN) bagged three global awards from the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday.

Namibia was named ICC Development Initiative of the Year for its Ashburton Kwata Mini Cricket Programme, the Capricorn Eagles, for winning the Regional Women’s Performance of the Year and the Eagles men’s team was named the Associate Men’s Performance of the Year.

Speaking to Nampa after the announcement of the awards, CN Chief Executive Officer Johan Muller said these awards are pointing in the right direction for Namibian cricket.

“It is a big day for us to win these three awards, especially the development award of the year which was recognised as the best of all 94 associate member countries. This is a critical award as it shows how strong our cricket is and the future of our cricket depends on the development programme,” Muller said.

He added that it is very important for a small sporting code like cricket to show what a small country like Namibia can do in terms of development.

Kwata Cricket was established in 2009 to create awareness of cricket in underprivileged communities in Namibia.

Now in its 13th year, the programme runs all over Namibia with over 30 schools and 60 000 players, as well as 70 teachers and volunteers actively involved.

The women’s team award came as a result of their thrilling performance in Botswana against Tanzania in the second semi-final of the World T20 Africa Qualifiers to claim their fourth consecutive victory.

“It was a match that kept every spectator on tenterhooks,” the CEO summed up that game.

The men’s team were rewarded for their superb performance, against Ireland to progress to the Super 12 of the 2020 T-20 World and automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

‘It was not just the game, it was qualification for the Super 12, it was a full member, but it was also automatic qualification for the 2022 World Cup, which just made the pressure and the expectation of that one match so much higher,” Muller summed up that day.

The CN CEO concluded by saying winning these awards will only serve as inspiration for his organisation to continue working hard with the aim of improving the game in Namibia.

Meanwhile, CN on Saturday announced a sponsorship (batter) deal with Imperial Logistics for the next two years.

This logistics company will be responsible for all transport logistics by CN.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency