16 amateur female cricket players identified for national team

Sixteen amateur female cricket players were on Saturday identified to join the national cricket team after they performed well at a three-day annual cricket festival that took place at Outjo in the Kunene region.

A total of 90 girls under 13 and 15 years from six teams of Outjo, Kamanjab and Walvis Bay participated in the tournament, where they played six matches.

The three-day annual cricket tournament started on Thursday and came to an end on Saturday at the Outjo Sports Stadium.

The festival was officially opened on Thursday by Outjo Constituency councillor Johannes Antsino in the presence of the National Cricket Coach, Francois van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe on Saturday announced his office was pleased to identify the 16 players from the tournament, who would now join the national team this year for trials.

“We also invited these 16 girls to attend and participate in a camping event for the under 17 years, which is planned to take place in Windhoek before December this year,” said Van der Merwe.

Cricket regional development officer Wilhelm Tuhafeni on his part on Saturday also announced the A and B teams of the Walvis Bay were the overall performers of the tournament.

“We crowned them champions with gold medals and trophies after they won all their matches,” he said.

The Outjo teams received trophies and silver medals in the second place, while Kamanjab with bronze medals,’ Tuhafeni said, expressing satisfaction with the quality of games and their results.