NEWS
Follow UsA disappointed Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus was unable to hide his frustration in the aftermath of his side’s humiliating loss against Australia as he admitted that Namibia, all tournament, did not come close to doing justice to their potential.
In Antigua on June 11 (Tuesday), Namibia suffered their second loss of the T20 World Cup 2024 to crash out of the tournament. The Scotland loss put them on the brink and Australia sealed their fate by first bowling them out for 72 before knocking off the target in just 34 balls.
Erasmus, speaking after the elimination, said that Namibia did not play the brand of cricket they are capable of. He asserted that his side were far from their best even in the encounter against Oman, which they won via super over.
“Unfortunately, as the captain I sort of have to say that we haven't quite reached our full potential in this tournament,” Erasmus said after the Australia loss.
“You know, even after the first win, felt that we didn't quite play with the exact freedom and the exact stamp on the game that we wanted to in the Oman game and then maybe that carried over a little bit in the Scottish game where we just couldn't close that out after having a pretty decent total.
“And then today's runaway obviously is very disappointing in its own sense.”
No side wishes to get hammered the way Namibia got at the hands of Australia in Antigua, but Erasmus believes experiences like these will actually benefit the team. The Namibia skipper described getting the opportunity to play with the best sides in the world as ‘gold dust’.
“Yeah, I guess, obviously for an associate nation, I think these big games are always gold dust in the sense that you get a physical run out with the best in the world and you tend to face different ball speeds, different skills at a very high quality, a very high consistency.
“And whether that's a game that runs very close or one that you even lose quite far, it's still gold dust that you need to sort of try your best to take in every moment of that and every sort of experience that you can because they don't come around often. So hopefully, some of the boys could do that tonight again, even though it was a bit of a runaway.”
Namibia have nothing to play for in their last encounter against England on June 15 (Saturday), but Erasmus believes that game will once again be a great platform for his side due to the exposure it will give the entire squad.
“I think that last game is gold dust again. We can't see it as any form of dead rubber for us. It's something that can sort of propel us into the future and make us a better side. Not only in T20 cricket but in the 50-over format as well. It can hold so much good information for us going forward. So, playing against another high-quality side, we'll just try and do our best to win.”
So, would Namibia be interested in doing a favour to Australia, Scotland and the rest of the field by sending England packing in the group stages itself?
“Yeah, I'm aware of that [the opportunity of knocking England out]. Obviously, also in the Australian press that will be pretty liked. But for us, we're pretty neutral so I can't really comment on any of that. We're here to continue playing at our best abilities.
“And if that favours the Australians then so be it, or the Scottish then so be it, we'll go out and try and battle.”
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