Namibia has been drawn into Group A of the Round 1 of qualifiers of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup 2021, scheduled from 17 October to 14 November.
The event will be hosted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The BCCI has the hosting rights of the tournament, but the 16-team event had to be shifted to the UAE because of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the draw that took place on Saturday, the Eagles, as Namibia is known will be playing against Ireland, The Netherlands, and automatic qualifiers Sri Lanka in Group A.
Group B comprises Oman, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Scotland, and automatic qualifiers Bangladesh.
Namibia qualified for the tournament in October 2019, with the event scheduled for October and November 2020.
Cricket Namibia Chief Executive Officer, Johan Muller said the draw was a tough one as they would have preferred to play Oman and PNG.
“It is also good to avoid Bangladesh and play Sri Lanka because the latter is rebuilding their team. They have a young squad with less experience,” Muller said.
The tournament was moved to 2021 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.
The two winners of the groups will join the defending champions, the West Indies alongside former champions England, Australia and South Africa in Group 1 of the Super 12s.
Namibia needs to win two of their group games for them to automatically qualify for the 2022 World Cup finals.
Group 2 will comprise former champions India and Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, and the other two qualifiers from Round 1.
The groups, selected on the basis of team rankings as of 20 March 2020, are:
Group A: Sri Lanka, Namibia, Netherlands, Ireland
Group B: Oman, Bangladesh, PNG, Scotland
Super 12 stage
Group One: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies plus the winner of Group A and runner-up of Group B.
Group Two: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan plus runner-up of Group A and the winner of Group B.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
