After winning the Africa Qualifiers, Namibia has qualified for the 2024 ICC Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka.
Namibia remained unbeaten through their victorious run in the Africa Qualifier, winning all their affairs after their campaign against Uganda was washed out.
The Namibia bowlers came all gun blazing were as they easily managed to defend low totals, with Namibia’s highest score being only 170 throughout the tournament.
After the washed-out game against Uganda, skipper Alexander Busing-Volschenk top-scored with 39 to help Namibia post a decent total of 139 against Tanzania before their bowlers all chipped in with wickets to wrap up Tanzania for a paltry 33, recording a big 106-run win.
Kenya too, suffered a similar fate in the next affair as they were bowled out for just 64 after batting first against Namibia, which won the affair by seven wickets in just 17 overs.
Namibia then outclassed Sierra Leone by 83 runs with left-arm pacer Morris Gerhardt Kariata being the wrecker-in-chief with a four-wicket haul.
Namibia then finished the tournament on a high, defending a paltry target of 149 against Nigeria with Peter-Daniel Blignaut registering a five-wicket haul in their 53-run victory.
Notably, Namibia became the third team to seal their berth for the U19 World Cup 2024 through the Qualifier route as in June, New Zealand went through the East Asia-Pacific Qualifier while Nepal advanced to the competition from Asian Qualifiers in February 2023.
The three teams will now join 11 others — Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, England, defending champions India, Ireland, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe — who automatically qualified as the best-placed Full Member nations from the previous edition held in the West Indies in 2022.
Two more spots are still vacant for the marquee event next year.
The Europe Qualifier will now be held between August 6-12 in the Netherlands where the hosts will clash against Guernsey, Italy, Jersey, Norway and Scotland for qualification while the Americas Qualifier will kick-off on August 11 with Argentina, Bermuda, hosts Canada, Suriname and USA participating in the event.