Cricket Namibia (CN) will be hosting Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) Women’s national squad from Jan 22nd – February 03rd, 2021 at Trustco United Sports Field at Olympia, Windhoek. Namibia Women and Zimbabwe Women will play each other in five T20 Internationals, followed by two One-day International (50-overs) matches during the two-week tour.
Namibia’s national Women’s cricket team coach Francois van der Merwe selected the squad after the conclusion of the national tournament from December 11th – 13th, from which around 24 players were selected for a three-week camp, before finalizing the 14-member squad to play against Zimbabwe.
van der Merwe said “Winning against Zimbabwe is important to us and we intend to field our best team on match day. So, preparation is crucial. The series will be a measuring stick in terms of where we are as a team in Africa and against teams like Zimbabwe. In the past we have struggled to get some good results against those teams and it will be interesting to see as a measuring stick to exactly where we are. The girls will be playing in about 25 matches during the national tournament. We are looking at about nine games a day.”
Women’s cricket and girls’ development are part of Cricket Namibia’s vision and strategy for the next two years, and with International events slated in 2021 for T20 World Cup qualifiers, Namibia will be looking for a positive start to the year. Namibia hosted Zimbabwe in Jan 2019, when they played a series of five T20I matches at Sparta Recreational Club at Walvis Bay. Zimbabwe Women were dominant throughout the series, remaining undefeated.
Zimbabwe Women players have been taking part in domestic competitions after the resumption of sport in the country, with the franchise based teams playing in both the 50-over challenge and the T20 competition.
Namibia Women Squad
Irené van Zyl (Captain), Yasmeen Khan, Adri van der Merwe, Kayleen Green, Suné Wittmann, Sylvia Shihepo, Arassta Diergaardt, Wilka Mwatile, Mekelanye Mwatile, Reehana Khan, Shiomwenyo Namusha, Didi Foerster, Victoria Hamunyela and Phia Gerber
Zimbabwe Women tour of Namibia Schedule (all timings local)
24th January 2021: 1st T20 Match @10:00
25th January 2021: 2nd T20 Match @14:00
27th January 2021: 3rd T20 Match @10:00
28th January 2021: 4th T20 Match @14:00
30th January 2021: 5th T20 Match @10:00
31st January 2021: 1st ODI Match @10:00
2nd February 2021: 2nd ODI Match @10:00
