ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup Teams & Groups

Namibia Team Profile

Paired with Australia, Sri Lanka and Nepal in what should be a fascinating group, Namibia will be hoping to at least repeat their exploits of the 2006 event where they recorded one victory in the opening round of the competition a seven-wicket triumph over Scotland before suffering a disappointing Quarter Final defeat to the USA by two wickets.

To qualify for the event, Namibia beat off competition from Kenya, with whom they lost to in the Group stages of the regional qualifier, before defeating them in the Final by 40 runs, to take the African qualifying spot.

The outstanding players for Namibia at the event were the opening pair Sean Silver and Raymond van Schoor, who scored three centuries during the course of the competition.

Silver and van Schoor, along with Dawid Botha, who will skipper the side, and Louis van der Westhuizen, who also plays at senior level for Namibia, will be key players, but their senior commitments, along with the academic commitments of players at university in South Africa have meant that the side have limited experience of playing together.

However, the experience these players have picked up at senior level in the ICC Intercontinental Cup and the ICC World Cricket League Division Three event, where Namibia used home advantage to book their place in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier in April 2009, will be invaluable.

Dawid Botha acknowledges his side will face a tough test at the event in Malaysia but is hopeful they can put on a good show.

He said: "We are a small nation with a small number of cricket players and we will be up against countries with a long cricket tradition and tens of thousands of cricket players. We need to be positive to be sure that we compete against these teams.

"Realistically, we would like to be competitive and play at the best of our ability. A win in the competition would obviously be a bonus."

Botha had an excellent event at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2, scoring 158 runs in the six matches, and he will be hoping to repeat his form at the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup 2006, where he scored three half centuries, including an excellent 61 against India U/19 and a match-winning 55 against Scotland for which he received the Man of the Match Award.

But Botha indicates the size of the task facing him and his side when he names the sides he thinks have the potential to win the competition, which includes two teams in his group.

He said: "The subcontinent teams, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, will obviously be a huge factor because they know the conditions and have always done very well at U-19 level. Australia too, should be strong."