Walvis Bay Salt Eagles ready for U19 Men’s Cricket World Cup qualifiers in Tanzania
Cricket Namibia recently held a capping and send-off ceremony for the Walvis Bay Salt Eagles who will be participating in the u19 Regional World Cup qualifiers in Tanzania at the end of this month.
The final 14-man squad that will participate in the qualifiers from 21 to 31 July was also announced this week at an event held in Windhoek.
The president of the Cricket Namibia board, Dr Rudie van Vuuren in a statement congratulated the team for making it to the qualifiers and emphasized what a special team they are.
“The energy and the commitment you have shown in your team is something very rare. It gives a team that X-factor. You guys have that X-factor. There is incredible talent among you, there is incredible leadership among you,” he said.
Van Vuuren also noted that after the failure of the previous U19 team to make the World Cup, Cricket Namibia identified areas of improvement that would lead to success.
“One of those areas included the need for a full-time high-performance coach. That position has since been filled by Oscar Nauhaus, who also took up the U19 coaching position,” he added.
To prepare the squad ahead of the regional qualifiers, where they will face Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Uganda, and the host, Tanzania, the Namibian squad embarked on various warm-up games in South Africa.
The participating teams at the regional qualifiers are vying for a spot in the 2024 World Cup in Sri Lanka, where they will join the 11 Full Member cricket nations that have automatically qualified for the event.
