Gerhard Erasmus

A reliable middle-order batter and a handy offspinner, Gerhard Erasmus has been a key figure in Namibia's rise in the 2020s.

His talent stood out early, when at 15 he was picked for Namibia's senior team to play against a touring MCC side in 2011. His first-class (and international) debut came in September that year, in a match against Ireland. His first List A and T20 games followed against Scotland inside a month. He went on to play the 2012 Under-19 World Cup and then captained in the 2014 edition.

Erasmus was the captain of the national senior team when Namibia were granted T20I and ODI status in 2018 and 2020 respectively. He went on to lead them in their first T20 World Cup, in 2021, where they registered wins over Netherlands and Ireland to qualify from the first round, with Erasmus scoring an unbeaten half-century to seal the chase against the latter. The win against Netherlands was Namibia's first at a World Cup. They then defeated Scotland in the next round, but lost the rest of their matches.

In the 2022 T20 World Cup, Erasmus oversaw a famous win over Sri Lanka, but Namibia failed to progress beyond the first round. It was a seminal year for Erasmus, who piled up 956 runs in 21 ODIs at a hefty average, and also scored his maiden T20I century, against Uganda - performances that earned him the ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year award.

Erasmus then captained Namibia to the 2024 T20 World Cup, where they didn't replicate their heroics of previous tournaments, beating only Oman, in a Super Over finish in Bridgetown.