England to tour Namibia

THE English Cricket Board yesterday announced that it will tour Namibia at the end of November to play two One Day Internatonal matches.

The historic tour to Namibia will precede England’s tour to Zimbabwe and South Africa. The English team will arrive in Windhoek on Tuesday, November 16, and will play thjeir first ODI at the Wanderers ground in Windhoek on Sunday, November 21.The second and final ODI takes place at the same venue on Tuesday, November 23.”We are very pleased that the Namibian Cricket Board has agreed to host an England team for the first time.We believe the tour will be mutually beneficial by helping the development and profile of cricket in Namibia, whilst providing England with good cricketing facilities in which to acclimatise prior to the trip to Zimbabwe and South Africa,” the ECB director of cricket, John Carr said yesterday.The current England captain, Michael Vaughan will lead a near full-strength team to Namibia and Zimbabwe.All-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who was recently named the International Cricket Council’s Cricketer of the Year, and opening batsman Marcus Trescothick have been rested by the selectors, while fast bowler Steve Harmison withdrew from the tour.In their absence, four new ODI caps have been included in the squad.They are Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Matthew Prior and Simon Jones.The England One-Day squad to tour Namibia and Zimbabwe is as follows: Michael Vaughan (captain – Yorkshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gareth Batty (Worcestershire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Darren Gough (Essex), Geraint Jones (Kent), Simon Jone (Glamorgan), Kevin Pietersen (Nottinghamshire), Matthew Prior (Sussex), Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex) and Alex Wharf (Glamorgan).England is currently one of the top-ranked ODI teams in the world.It reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy last Saturday, where it lost by two wickets to the West Indies.At last year’s Cricket World Cup, Namibia nearly caused a major upset before losing by 55 runs to England.Jan Berrie Burger, who scored 85 runs, won the man of the match trophy.The English team will arrive in Windhoek on Tuesday, November 16, and will play thjeir first ODI at the Wanderers ground in Windhoek on Sunday, November 21.The second and final ODI takes place at the same venue on Tuesday, November 23.”We are very pleased that the Namibian Cricket Board has agreed to host an England team for the first time.We believe the tour will be mutually beneficial by helping the development and profile of cricket in Namibia, whilst providing England with good cricketing facilities in which to acclimatise prior to the trip to Zimbabwe and South Africa,” the ECB director of cricket, John Carr said yesterday.The current England captain, Michael Vaughan will lead a near full-strength team to Namibia and Zimbabwe.All-rounder Andrew Flintoff, who was recently named the International Cricket Council’s Cricketer of the Year, and opening batsman Marcus Trescothick have been rested by the selectors, while fast bowler Steve Harmison withdrew from the tour.In their absence, four new ODI caps have been included in the squad.They are Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Matthew Prior and Simon Jones.The England One-Day squad to tour Namibia and Zimbabwe is as follows: Michael Vaughan (captain – Yorkshire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Gareth Batty (Worcestershire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Ashley Giles (Warwickshire), Darren Gough (Essex), Geraint Jones (Kent), Simon Jone (Glamorgan), Kevin Pietersen (Nottinghamshire), Matthew Prior (Sussex), Vikram Solanki (Worcestershire), Andrew Strauss (Middlesex) and Alex Wharf (Glamorgan).England is currently one of the top-ranked ODI teams in the world.It reached the final of the ICC Champions Trophy last Saturday, where it lost by two wickets to the West Indies.At last year’s Cricket World Cup, Namibia nearly caused a major upset before losing by 55 runs to England.Jan Berrie Burger, who scored 85 runs, won the man of the match trophy.