Eagles aim to strike back 

The Namibian Richelieu Eagles take on the UAE at the United Sport Club today in a crucial match for both sides after they both got off to losing starts in the Tri-Nations cricket series. 

The United States are the form team at the moment, having beaten Namibia by six wickets on Monday and then thrashing UAE by ten wickets on Wednesday, which saw them overtaking Namibia into fourth place on the log.

The Netherlands currently lead the eight-nation series on 12 points, followed by Canada on 10, Scotland on 9, and USA and Namibia on 8 points, but USA have some matches in hand on the leaders and can even go top of the log if they maintain their winning run in Windhoek over the next week. 

For Namibia, though, victory on their home turf against a struggling UAE team will be crucial if they hope to stay in touch with the leaders in the Cricket World Cup League 2 tournament, which forms part of the qualification pathway for the next 50-over World Cup in 2027 that Namibia will jointly host with South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Namibia coach Pierre de Bruyn, however, said they are well-prepared and confident of victory against the UAE. 

“I’m confident that we can beat the UAE. Our preparations have gone very well and we spoke about certain areas that we have to improve. We were too sluggish against the USA, our intensity was not at the right level and we were off the pace,” he said. 

“We have worked hard to raise our intensity, it’s a mind switch, so if we can raise that I’m confident that we can win the match. We are looking forward to it and there is a lot at stake,” he added.

Namibia’s best chance of success will be against the UAE who are yet to win a match in the tournament and are currently at the bottom of the log on zero points.

As part of their preparations for the series, the UAE arrived earlier in Namibia and took on Namibia A in a four-match 50-over series which they shared 2-2, with both teams using a few first choice players, but mostly fringe players.

The UAE have surprisingly dropped their top two batters of the A-series – 

Vriitya Aravind, who scored 273 runs at an average of 136, which remarkably included two 99 not outs, and Dhruv Parashar, who scored 147 runs at an average of 73,50, but they have other top batters like captain Muhammad Waseem, Aryansh Sharma and Vishnu Sukumaran, while Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Jawadullah and the left arm spinner Rahul Bhatia will lead their bowling attack.

For Namibia, captain Gerhard Erasmus will once again play a pivotal role with both bat and ball, as will other senior players like Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit, but some of the younger players will have to step up.

Against the USA, Frylinck was Namibia’s top batter with 70 runs, while Smit added 49 and Erasmus 27, but they received little support as the whole team was out for a modest 199.

Nicol Loftie-Eaton, however, is in good form – he was Namibia’s top batter in the A series with 188 runs and a top score of 90 not out, while other fringe players like Shaun Fouche, Dylan Leicher and Handre Klazinga, all did well in the A series and could force their way into the team. 

De Bruyn said they are all in contention for today’s match. 

“They are all in our 15-man squad along with Jack Brassell, so they are all selectable. It’s about horses for courses, so we will see who are the best-suited for the conditions on the day,” he said.