Namibia has comprehensively beaten a one-time T20 World Champion team, Sri Lanka, on last Sunday. Having said that Namibia was beaten by a small team called the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Now today, they will be facing another small team from Asia i.e. UAE.
Team Namibia has a very good chance of advancing to the second round, there are a good number of reasons for that.
Reasons for Namibia Could Qualify for Second Round
- They will still have confidence in their mind after beating Sri Lanka in their opening game.
- They will be facing a team of UAE which has lost both matches and will be less challenging to Namibia.
- They have a very good net run rate compared to other teams like the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
- Their players Loftie-Eaton, Jan Frylinck, Gerhard Erasmus(c), and David Wiese are doing excellent in this world cup.
Namibian players just need to believe in them again and should have the same tempo and mindset which they showed against the mighty Sri Lankans.
If they win today against Sri Lanka then it will be a great joy and pleasure to the Namibian fans back at home as they will be playing against big teams in the second round.
The experience of playing against the top team of the world always teaches you many things.
Meeting great players and playing against them will boost the confidence of Namibian players. They will learn how the strong teams prepare themselves before the match and what kind of mindset they have before and during the match will also be a very good learning experience for Namibia.
Namibia’s star player David Wiese is now fit and will be seen in action today against UAE.
It will be very critical for captain Erasmus and management to decide the playing 11 in the final match of the first round against UAE.
This match is a do-or-die for them as this is their best chance to prove themselves and go to the next level and play against the bigger team.
Date and Time: Thursday, October 20 at 7 pm local time
Venue: Kardinia Park, Geelong
Squads:
United Arab Emirates Squad: Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Aryan Lakra, Chundangapoyil Rizwan(c), Vriitya Aravind(w), Basil Hameed, Aayan Afzal Khan, Kashif Daud, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Ahmed Raza, Zawar Farid, Sabir Ali
Namibia Squad: Michael van Lingen, Divan la Cock, Stephan Baard, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Jan Frylinck, Gerhard Erasmus(c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green(w), Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo, Pikky Ya France, Lohandre Louwrens, Tangeni Lungameni, Karl Birkenstock, Ruben Trumpelmann
Also Read: Why Namibia won the first match against Sri Lanka
Image source: Twitter.com