Namibia: Namspire Hosts Switch Desert Slam
The Vanishing Kings and the Etosha Giants won the u17 and u14 titles of the Switch Desert Slam T20 Cup in Windhoek over the weekend.
The junior cricket tournament was hosted by Namspire Cricket Academy and saw players from all over Namibia in action.
In the u17 final, Gerhard Janse van Rensburg played a captain’s innings to lead the Vanishing Kings to a 35-run victory over the Etosha Lions.
He scored 83 not out from 32 balls, which included nine sixes and four fours, as the Kings posted a formidable 205 runs for five wickets off their 20 overs.
The Etosha Lions made a valiant chase, with Lu-Hendro de Waal scoring 59 off 35 balls (3×6, 2×4), but eventually fell 35 runs short of the target.
De Waal, however, won the Player of the Tournament award after scoring a total of 135 runs in four innings’ at an average of 67,50.
Janse van Rensburg followed closely behind, scoring 131 runs in four innings at an average of 31,75.
In the u14 final, the Etosha Giants beat the Southern Sparrows by six wickets.
The Sparrows were all out for 64 runs, while the Etosha Giants reached the target for the loss of four wickets.
Jacob Chaplin was the Player of the Match after taking three wickets for six runs in two overs, while Franko Bergh was the Player of the Tournament, after scoring 148 runs in five innings.’
Adri Pienaar from the sponsors Switch said they were proud to be associated with Namspire Cricket Academy as their partner in cricket development.
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“These tournaments and festivals provide a huge opportunity for young players to gain experience by playing in a well-organised and highly competitive setting that hones their holistic cricketing skills,” she said.
Dickson Vambe, the managing director of Namspire Sports said that they had introduced the first live-scoring application at junior cricket level in Namibia, which allows players, parents and potential overseas cricket teams to track the progress of players. “The world of cricket has become so professional and advanced that we found the need to introduce the first of it’s kind live-scoring application at junior level. It has ball-by-ball commentary, statistics and reports, which helps our youngsters to be identified for playing opportunities abroad with clubs or universities,” Vambe said.