Namibia clinch qualification to 2002 Under 19 World Cup

Chris Tetley January 9, 2001

At Lugogo SC Namibia beat East and Central Africa by 5 wickets to secure their place in the 2002 Under 19 World Cup. Set a target of 175 to win, a solid batting performance saw them through with 4 overs to spare. Having lost captain Swanepoel for a brisk 15, Ludik joined Greef and both batsmen played the accurate East and Central African bowlers sensibly, picking up runs in singles rather than looking to play expansive strokes. Ludik completed an impressive half century, before being bowled by a good ball from Dhamji. Van Rooi and Nel continued to bat with maturity, but both were out leaving Durant and Verwey to complete the victory.

Earlier, East and Central Africa got off to a steady start, before losing Kosita and then Parmar in quick succession. U. Patel came into join Pandya, and the two stabilised the innings. Patel went on to make an excellent 66, well supported by J. Patel (19). Disciplined bowling from the Namibians made scoring difficult. The wickets were shared amongst the bowlers, and Greef bowled his ten over spell for just 13 runs.

Namibia now 6 points from their 4 matches, a total that can only be equalled by East and Central Africa if they beat West Africa on Tuesday 9 January. However on the count-back system since Namibia beat East and Central Africa they are adjudged winners.

In the other match Kenya finally won their first match of the Championships, when they beat West Africa in convincing fashion.

Batting first, Kenya lost Auma early, but number 3 Rajesh Premji came in to play a superb innings of 96. The next highest Kenyan score was 16 made by Timothy Muange. West Africa did not help themselves in conceeding 54 extras, which included a total of 36 wides.

The West African batting was blown away by the Kenyan attack, with the top five batsman making only 5 runs between them. The only real resistance came from Kunle Adegbola who made 17. The West Africans were finally dismissed for 51.

The final round of matches see West Africa play East and Central Africa at Kyambogo SC, whilst Kenya play host nation Uganda at Lugogo SC.

© ICC