Junior cricket trials to be conducted

Ahead of the EJCCA Carnival City Cricket Festival in South Africa’s Benoni in August, the national team selectors of Cricket Namibia (CN) will conduct trials for their U13, U15 and U17 squads in the next two weeks.
The festival will see some of South Africa’s finest junior teams square off with the Namibians as well as the Zimbabweans.
The trials will also give the coaching staff an indication on possible players who can represent Namibia at the next ICC U19 World Cup in New Zealand in 2018. Namibian has already qualified for the prestigious tournament thanks to its 7th place in this year’s event – the best position among the African participants.
First up, the selectors will have to decide who will represent Namibia in the U17 age division this weekend (1. – 3. April). A week later, the U13 and U15 youngsters will be out to impress and gain a place in the team.
To have an adequate representation from players all over Namibia, CN Development Manager Steven Berry, together with John Heynes and junior national coach Norbert Manyande, conducted talent identification courses in several regions throughout the last couple of weeks.
Berry and his colleagues were very happy with the performance of the U13’s and U15’ in Walvisbay. “There is some serious talent and we are very excited about the players that are coming through the ranks”, the Development Manager explained.
The trio was also rejoiced over what the U13’s showed, especially since almost every one of them came through CN’s Kwata Development Program which was launched in 2010. A sign that the programme is reaping success.
More reason to smile was given the selectors by the players from the north. “We had kids from Otjiwarongo, Tsumeb, Grootfontein and Outjo participating and there was certainly no lack of quality”, Berry noted.
Around ten players from each age group will travel to Windhoek to fight for a place in the team.