Nam upbeat about WP match

NAMIBIA are raring to go when they take on Western Province in an SAA Challenge three-day match starting at the Wanderers field today.

The match starts at 10h00. The Namibian selectors have made one change to the team that lost by eight runs to Ireland, brining in top-order batsman Gerhard Rudolph for all-rounder Bjorn Kotze, who is unavailable due to work commitments.Team manager Abe Louw said that they were confident of doing well and hoped that the match would provide good preparation for the ICC Intercontinental Cup final in Port Elizabeth from October 30 to November 3.Ireland qualified for the final after beating Kenya by an innings and 65 runs in Nairobi yesterday.The Western Province match sees the start of a busy schedule for Namibia, who will play North West in Potchefstroom in the SAA Challenge from October 23-26, before leaving directly for Port Elizabeth.Due to work commitments Namibia’s top players will not be available for the North West match, but with the exception of Bjorn Kotze, they have selected their strongest side for the Western Province encounter.”We want to give our top players as much practise as possible in preparation for the Ireland match, so we have selected the same team that faced Ireland, with the exception of Bjorn Kotze.Bjorn will however be available for the one-day SAA Cup match on Sunday, so we still have to decide on that line-up,” he said.Kotze is replaced by top order batsman Gerhard Rudolph, who can also open the batting.But it is likely that the selectors will stick with veteran Deon Kotze in the opening role, to give him more practice ahead of the ICC Intercontinental Cup final.The pressure will be on players like Gerrie Snyman, Louis and Sarel Burger, JB Burger and Craig Williams to score some runs up the order so that the tail-enders will not have to bail them out again, as they did against Ireland.This season they have been paired in a group with Western Province, North West, Inland Natal, the Northern Titans and Border.Namibian Team: JB Burger, Gerhard Rudolph, Sarel Burger, LP van der Westhuizen, Gerrie Snyman, Louis Burger (captain), Deon Kotze, Craig Williams, Tobie Verwey, Louis Klazinga, Kola Burger, Wilbur Slabber and Bernard Scholtz.Johan Rudolph is the coach.- www.namibiasport.comThe Namibian selectors have made one change to the team that lost by eight runs to Ireland, brining in top-order batsman Gerhard Rudolph for all-rounder Bjorn Kotze, who is unavailable due to work commitments.Team manager Abe Louw said that they were confident of doing well and hoped that the match would provide good preparation for the ICC Intercontinental Cup final in Port Elizabeth from October 30 to November 3.Ireland qualified for the final after beating Kenya by an innings and 65 runs in Nairobi yesterday.The Western Province match sees the start of a busy schedule for Namibia, who will play North West in Potchefstroom in the SAA Challenge from October 23-26, before leaving directly for Port Elizabeth.Due to work commitments Namibia’s top players will not be available for the North West match, but with the exception of Bjorn Kotze, they have selected their strongest side for the Western Province encounter.”We want to give our top players as much practise as possible in preparation for the Ireland match, so we have selected the same team that faced Ireland, with the exception of Bjorn Kotze.Bjorn will however be available for the one-day SAA Cup match on Sunday, so we still have to decide on that line-up,” he said.Kotze is replaced by top order batsman Gerhard Rudolph, who can also open the batting.But it is likely that the selectors will stick with veteran Deon Kotze in the opening role, to give him more practice ahead of the ICC Intercontinental Cup final.The pressure will be on players like Gerrie Snyman, Louis and Sarel Burger, JB Burger and Craig Williams to score some runs up the order so that the tail-enders will not have to bail them out again, as they did against Ireland.This season they have been paired in a group with Western Province, North West, Inland Natal, the Northern Titans and Border.Namibian Team: JB Burger, Gerhard Rudolph, Sarel Burger, LP van der Westhuizen, Gerrie Snyman, Louis Burger (captain), Deon Kotze, Craig Williams, Tobie Verwey, Louis Klazinga, Kola Burger, Wilbur Slabber and Bernard Scholtz.Johan Rudolph is the coach. – www.namibiasport.com