'The Brand We Have...': Only Four Top-Division Clubs, But Cricket Is Thriving In Namibia

Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus has said that the anticipation around cricket has grown back home, with citizens now tuning into streaming platforms and on television every two years at the T20 World Cup, even though the player pool and the structure are bare minimum.

In under 24 hours, three Associate teams almost pulled off upsets in the ongoing T20 World Cup. The Netherlands, the USA and Nepal were on the brink of wins before missed catches and moments of brilliance from the game’s top stars saw them slip away.

Erasmus says that, despite Namibia lacking a first-class structure and having only four top-division men’s clubs, cricket continues to grow in the nation.

“These days, a lot more people follow cricket. In a sense, we have overtaken rugby,

which is culturally a big sport in South Africa and Namibia. Soccer is still the most participated sport, so in terms of numbers, we are probably not there yet,” Erasmus said while speaking to The Times of India.

“But the brand we have created with Namibia, the fact that people see us on streaming platforms and on TV every two years on the world stage, has created real anticipation around cricket,” Erasmus added.

However, the Namibia captain believes much more needs to be done to strengthen the grassroots cricket structure in the nation.

“The grassroots structure mainly runs through school cricket, followed by Namibia’s age-group teams: U13, U15 and U19. We have tried to set up an academy and a high-performance setup over the last three or four years,” Erasmus said.

“That has also been difficult because it is tough to get inbound tours or go outbound because of financial constraints. Setting up a viable high-performance structure is the next step for us,” Erasmus added.

Namibia will play their first match of the 2026 T20 World Cup against the Netherlands on Tuesday in New Delhi.