NEWS
Follow UsUnlike previously, the gap between the associate nations and the Test-playing nations is reducing every day, so much so that teams like the United States of America walked away from a series against Bangladesh with a 2-1 win.
The associate world is becoming increasingly confident in their trade, with some even gaining a lot of success, as the Netherlands side showed in the 2022 T20 World Cup when they beat South Africa. Namibia wasn’t too far behind, with the African side showing their class against Sri Lanka in the tournament. Namibia's skipper Gerhard Erasmus talked about the progress of the Associate nation in comparison to the top dogs.
“Yeah, the Associations have long been knocking on the door. They've had mixed success, but good successes over the past. And they've given, at least in white ball cricket, they've given many test nations a good run and I think continuously the gap is closing,” Erasmus said in the pre-match press conference.
“But still, there's too many reasons, just more players in the associate world from different countries, but also just more exposure. And I think with that exposure comes a different skill set and different mindset that you, it's not that big a novelty anymore to play against at a high-level guys, guys who play in professional setups all year long,” he added.
“So, yeah, the gap definitely is closing and as one of the voices of associate cricket, you always try and boost associate cricket. You've got to step up on the field actually and do the work there rather than trying to urge for more opportunities, you've got to show why you want them.”
Namibia experienced the skill gap first-hand when they faced a rampant Australian side in the warm-up fixture. After being put into bat first, Namibia could only muster up 119 runs, which Australia chased down in under ten overs, showing them a grave reflection. But Erasmus insisted that games like these act as a benchmark for the countries in the associate world to learn.
“Yeah, pretty hard game to be fair for us. So, you know, as I said earlier, just the exposure and the level of cricket that you get exposed to when facing the likes of Josh and good spinners like Zamps and all of those guys that continuously play so many games, so many white ball games through the year,” he said.
“That's where you benchmark yourself on as an Associate Nation. You want to be playing lots of cricket, you want to be playing against the best. Lots of the guys have gotten a feel of that over the years. Unfortunately, it doesn't come around enough for the Associate teams and they're not exposed to that year-round. So, making that jump up in tournament and making it very quickly is what's really challenging but cool at the same time,” he added.
In Namibia’s appearance at the 2022 T20 World Cup, they sprung a huge surprise by outclassing Sri Lanka, a team that was deemed the champions in Asia.
“So, with our previous tournament, we've had that exposure in the first, like in our first World Cup with Sri Lanka, got beaten badly, but then had a great tournament. Just to up at that level from the start and sort of, yeah, I guess break from the start and get onto that level is what's probably more valuable than getting, obviously, getting thrashed in the world game like that. So, it's not much to take out of that top again,” he stated.
But over the last few months, leading up to the World Cup, the Namibian side have played in differing conditions, which has helped them build up to the global tournament in the United States and the Caribbean.
“Yeah, I think so. With three tournaments behind our back, lots of guys playing around the world, it's not that feeling of being overwhelmed anymore, it's that feeling of not belonging, stepping on the field with a bunch of aliens or something like that, it's more a feeling of stepping out of the line against your peers,” he added.
“And although they constantly play high level cricket, you know you've got to also compete at that level. So, yeah, I won't be stepping back to any of the so-called test nations. It's white-ball cricket. They also know it’s white-ball cricket, so they’ll try and combat that and prepare very well. I don't see any of the test nations these days, seeing any of the associate nations off lightly.”
Namibia open their T20 World Cup campaign against fellow associate country, Oman on June 3 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. They will also go shoulder-to-shoulder with England and Australia, which could come as the biggest test for the African side. Erasmus insisted that the Test-playing nations will definitely do their analysis.
“They'll do analysis, they'll do proper planning against all of our batters. That's going to be very good exposure for us again and only really something to gain that frees us up a little bit and perhaps tightens them up at the back end of the tournament. I think our fixture run is also reasonable and kind to us, suits us in a sense,” he concluded.
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