Women’s cricket takes centre stage

Namibia’s national women’s cricket team will be in action next week when the Capricorn Eagles T20i Quadrangular tournament gets underway in Windhoek.

With the national men’s team the Richelieu Eagles’ run in the world cup qualifiers now having come to an end, the attention turns to the Capricorn Eagles who will test their mettle against Uganda, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates from 24 April to 2 May. 

Namibia will take on Hong Kong in the opening match of the tournament next Monday, while matches will continue over the next week until the final on 2 May. 

Namibian all-rounder, Yasmeen Khan, meanwhile, has made a name for herself on the international circuit and last weekend helped her franchise team the Warriors win the FairBreak Global T20 in Hong Kong after they beat the Falcons in the final. 

It was her second year with the franchise and their fortunes took a remarkable turn for the better after they came second last in last year’s tournament. 

Competing alongside some of the world’s top players, Khan played three matches for the Warriors with her best performance coming in a group match against the Falcons when she scored 22 runs and took two wickets for nine runs. 

Khan has been rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s top players like Hayley Matthews of the West Indies, Phoebe Litchfield and Amanda-Jade Wellington of Australia, and Mignon du Preez of South Africa and said the experience had been amazing. 

“It was an incredible experience coming from a small cricketing nation like Namibia and playing against some of the top players in the world. You don’t get chances often to compete against them, so I just soaked it all up, I can’t really put it into words,” she said. 

Khan, meanwhile, said she is looking forward to representing Namibia at next week’s quadrangular tournament.

“I’m looking forward to playing for Namibia again. We haven’t played as a team for a while now and the tournament will give us a good indication of where we stand in international cricket,” she said. 

“The tournament is very important because it will help us prepare for the T20 World Cup qualifiers coming up later this year,” she added. 

It will be the first time that the Capricorn Eagles take on Hong Kong and the UAE, but they have played Uganda before, beating them by 12 runs in a trinations series last year. 

Khan said she expected tough competition from the participating teams. 

“Uganda always give us a run for our money and there are some good players from Hong Kong and UAE who also played in the FairBreak Global T20, so I expect a strong challenge from their national teams,” she said.