By: Dwight Links
Namibia’s Capricorn Eagles departed on Tuesday for the global qualifier tournament in Nepal, with warm-up matches and preparations in India.
By travelling to India, the team sought similar conditions to Nepal, which is currently experiencing its winter season with possible temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius, in preparation for the tournament.
Cricket Namibia’s CEO, Johan Muller, outlined that the year of matches and engagements for both the men’s and women’s cricket teams is stacked with no less than 20 events.
The women’s T20 team is on the cusp of directly qualifying for the June 2026 T20 World Cup in England and Wales, contingent on certain performance parameters.
“We only need two wins and a narrow loss to make it to England and Wales in June this year,” Muller outlined to the departing squad, whose first match is set for 14 January.
Confident in the calibre of the squad, Cricket Namibia made it clear that the Eagles team can qualify for the winter competition.
“The emerging trophy was the first experience for the women’s Capricorn Eagles of really high-level cricket, in a very tough tournament. I think that the team had learned some extremely valuable lessons from that,” Muller added.
The qualifiers present a historic opportunity for Namibia, who have never featured in a women’s World Cup in any format, as they look to break new ground and qualify for the first time.
Reflecting on the Emerging Nations tournament that the Eagles played in, Muller noted that there were close calls that could have cemented the team in an impressive position of confidence, and that there is more to be expected of them.
“There were a few close losses that could have easily gone the other way around, and we believe that you can turn this around in this tournament,” he said.
Namibia Squad: Suné Wittmann, Naomi Benjamin, Arrasta Diergaardt, Kayleen Green, Mezerly Gorases, Victoria Hamunyela, Yasmeen Khan, Eveleen Kejarukua, Mekelaye Mwatile, Wilka Mwatile, Bianca Manuel, Sylvia Shihepo, Saima Tuhadeleni, Edelle van Zyl, and Leigh-Marie Visser.
PREPARATIONS
Eagles coach Francois van der Merwe expanded that the preparations are key to help acclimatise to the Nepalese climate.
“There’s always going to be challenges when qualifying for a tournament. It is going to be a 24-hour journey from Namibia to India, via Ethiopia, and then onto Nepal,” Van der Merwe outlined.
Citing that the Eagles team experienced humid conditions with their participation in Thailand, Van der Merwe noted that the quality of competition has been good for the development of the squad in preparation for next week’s opening match.
One of the first focus points that the squad will have to look into is the state of the playing pitch, and the assumption is that a low pitch can be anticipated.
On the competition front, Namibia is set to face Test-playing nations like Bangladesh and Ireland, both possessing established members.
“This is going to be a very tough assignment; Bangladesh is a test-playing country, and Ireland as well, which is also test-playing – with the level of resources that they can commit to their player development programs in those nations, it would be a challenge, and we are up for it,” Van der Merwe added.
