Namibian youths selected for ICC fixtures in India and Nepal

Cricket Namibia selected some young players, who impressed at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in February, to feature in the country's first team that will face Afghanistan and Nepal in the next round of the ICC Intercontinental Cup and World Cricket League respectively.

Cricket Namibia on Tuesday said that Stephen Baard will captain the squad which will include youngsters like Zane Green and Lohan Louwrens who impressed selectors during the ICC U19 World Cup held in Bangladesh.

The Namibian team will leave for India on Wednesday, where they will take on Afghanistan in their third Intercontinental Cup 4-day match of the season pencilled for April 10 to 13.

According to the Cricket board in Namibia, the match venue is to be played in India due to safety concerns.

So far the Namibian team won against Hong Kong, China in their first match by 114 runs while succumbing to Ireland in their second game by an innings and 107 runs.

The team currently sits on seventh place, having played one game less than all other participating nations, while Ireland sits on top.

Following their Intercontinental Cup game, Namibia will travel to Nepal to face the home side in the ICC World Cricket League 2 in 50 over matches from April 17 to 19.

Namibia has so far won one game and lost three, leaving them sixth. As with the Intercontinental Cup though, they have played less games than most of the other teams. Nepal is last while the Netherlands is first.

Following is the Namibian team selected:

Stephen Baard (captain), Picky Ya France, Nicolaas Scholtz, JJ Smit, Tangeni Lungameni, Christopher Coombe, Bernard Scholtz, Zhivago Groenewald, Gerhard Erasmus, Gerrie Snyman, JP Kotze, Zane Green, Lohan Louwrens, Sarel Burger.

Head coach: Dayanand Thakur, assistant coach: Bjorn Kotze, and fitness coach: Clinton Henry.