Namibia announce experienced squad for tri-series against South Africa, Zimbabwe
New Delhi, Aug 24 (IANS) Namibia have named an experienced squad for a home T20I tri-series against South Africa and Zimbabwe, which starts later this week. Gerhard Erasmus will be leading the squad, which features the likes of veterans Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann and Bernard Scholtz.
Opening batter Michael van Lingen is also in the squad. He retired in 2024 but featured in the Cricket World Cup League 2 series on his comeback last month. He has not played a T20I since the 2024 T20 World Cup. If given the nod for the series, he is likely to open with 21-year-old Junior Taanyanda, who made his T20I debut during the recent T20I tri-series against Hong Kong and Nigeria.
The squad also includes the likes of fast bowlers Max Heingo and Waldo Smith and off-spinner Jan Balt, who was the leading wicket-taker in the recent tri-series.
The series will have seven matches taking place at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek, starting from Friday with the final on September 6. This is just the second time that Namibia are hosting South Africa after the Proteas travelled to inaugurate the Namibia Cricket Ground in October 2024 and famously lost the one-off T20I, although the visitors were without several of their first-choice players.
South Africa have named a second-string squad for this T20I tri-series too, with Bjorn Fortuin set to lead the side, which features only Dewald Brevis, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Kwena Maphaka as the front-line players, who can be considered part of the full-strength team.
Namibia have won the last five of their seven T20Is, which included four wins in the tri-series against Nigeria and Hong Kong. They lost a three-match T20I series to Scotland 2-1. While Namibia and South Africa have named their squads, Zimbabwe are yet to announce their team.
Namibia squad for tri-series:
Gerhard Erasmus (capt), Michael van Lingen, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, Ruben Trumpelmann, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Louren Steenkamp, Malan Kruger, Jack Brassell, Max Heingo, Alex Busing-Volschenk, Junior Taanyanda, Jan-Nicol Loftie-Eaton, JC Balt, Waldo Smith
–IANS
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