Cricket Namibia (CN) on Monday announced that the inaugural Global T20 Namibia will be hosted at Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek from 01 to 09 September 2022.
Namibia’s men’s national development side, the Eagles, will face Pakistan’s Lahore Qalanders and South Africa’s DP World Lions.
Speaking to Nampa on Monday, CN Chief Executive Officer, Johan Muller, said the new tournament will serve as preparation for the 2022 T20 World Cup scheduled for Australia later in the year, while the commercial model will allow CN to produce, package and sell the broadcast rights for the tournament.
“This is high-quality on-field preparation for the world cup, where the team will play express quick bowlers and quality spinners from Pakistan. Those are different skill sets that we normally do not find amongst our opponents that we play regularly,” Muller said.
He noted that selling sports broadcasts to international audiences is an undervalued idea in local sports, but a booming trend in many cricket-playing countries.
“The first few years such tournaments are run at a loss. [However], we are not in a position to make financial losses on this. Our model is to attract top quality teams with lower risk, but create an opportunity for people around the world to watch our exciting league,” he said, adding that it will be an opportunity for them to face top-quality players such as South African national team captain, Temba Bavuma and fast-bowler Kagiso Rabada, who will feature for the Lions.
He added that Namibia’s World Cup-bound squad will be announced soon and that the Eagles will play Papua New Guinea for a 50-over series before going to Australia, where they will also play preparation matches before the global showpiece.
Following the T20 matches, the Eagles will meet Lahore Qalandars in two 50-over games on 07 and 09 September.
The Eagles squad is made up of Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Stephen Baard, Karl Birkenstock, Shaun Fouche, Jan Frylinck, Zane Green, (wicket-keeper), Divan La Cock, Nicol Loftie Eaton, Lohan Louwrens (wicket-keeper), Tangeni Lungameni, Mauritius Ngupita, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, JJ Smit, Ruben Trumpelmann, Michael van Lingen, David Wiese, Craig Williams and Pikkie Ya France.
The Lahore Qalandars squad is as follows: Hamza Nazar (captain), Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti, Aitizaz Habib Khan, Dilbar Hussain, Jalat Khan, Jehanzeb Naveed (wicket-keeper), Mamoon Ur Riaz, Mansoor Saleem (wicket-keeper), Mehboob Ur Rahman Usmani, Mirza Tahir Baig, Muhammad Naeem, Shane Dadswell, Sudais Khan, Usama Mir and Usman Khali.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
