Scant resources, big dreams

South Africa’s Neighbour Namibia Has Only Five Cricket Clubs And Nine Grounds But The Team Is Rubbing Shoulders With Sport’s Elite

- Hindol.Basu

ON A HIGH: Namibia’s players achieved the impossible by qualifying for the Super 12 stage

Frankie Fredericks, the renowned sprinter of the 90s who happens to be a four-time Olympic silver medallist, is a legend in Namibia and the country’s most famous sportsperson. Celebrated boxer Julius Indongo, the unified WBA, IBF, and IBO world champion in the light welterweight division, comes a close second. In terms of popularity as a sport, football is way ahead; rugby isn’t far behind though.

Before the ongoing T20 World Cup, names like Gerhard Erasmus, David Wiese, Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, and Bernard Scholtz hardly rang a bell for the common Namibian. Cricket, in itself, has very little base in the southern African nation. The sport mostly is limited to the capital city Windhoek, where five clubs fight it out in the Premier Division. The Namibian national cricket team comprises of players from these clubs.

The entire country has just 9 cricket grounds. In terms of resources, cricket in Namibia is as dry as the Namib desert – from which the country derives its name.