Namibia qualifies for ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup

Namibia completed the line-up for the ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia next February when it beat Kenya by 39 runs in the final of the Africa region qualifying tournament in Benoni, South Africa on Thursday.

By virtue of winning the tournament Namibia has become the final team to book its place and joins Nepal (from the Asia Region), Papua New Guinea (from the East Asia-Pacific Region), Ireland (from the Europe Region), Bermuda (from the Americas Region), the ICC's 10 Full Members and hosts Malaysia at the 16-team ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup to be played from 17 February to 2 March 2008.

A fine innings of 73 from opening batsman Sean Silver made sure Namibia set a very competitive total of 256-7 in 50 overs. He was assisted in his task by captain Dawid Botha (50) and Louis van der Westhuizen (40).

The Kenya bowlers stuck to their task well with Prashanth Srinivas's 3-53 being the highlight but 257 runs to win was always going to be a tough ask.

In the event, Kenya got to within 40 runs of victory as Sanil Patel threatened to upset the Namibians' party. He made an innings-anchoring 92 before being caught by Botha off the bowling of Elandre Oosthuizen just eight runs short of his century.

Oosthuizen was the star of Namibia's attack, taking 5-35 off 8.2 overs as Kenya slumped to 217 all out having looked good at one stage on 141-4 with Patel in charge at the crease.

In the other games of the day Zambia beat Ghana by three wickets, Tanzania beat Nigeria by seven wickets and Uganda beat Botswana by five wickets.

The ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup is a vital part of the ICC Development Program and provides a vehicle for the best young cricketers in the world to parade their skills.

Many of the future stars of the game experience their first true international exposure at this tournament and players such as Brian Lara, Michael Atherton, Yuvraj Singh, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chris Cairns, Michael Clarke, Graeme Smith and Sanath Jayasuriya have used the event as a stepping stone to full international honours.

First staged in Australia in 1988, the tournament was initially organised on an occasional basis, but since the commencement of the ICC Development Program in 1997 it has become a biennial fixture.

The 2010 ICC U/19 Cricket World Cup will be held in Kenya while the 2012 tournament will be staged in Canada and the United Arab Emirates will host the 2014 edition.

At Benoni:
Namibia 256-7 (S Silver 73, D Botha 50, L van der Westhuizen 40; P Srinivas 3-53)
Kenya 217 all out (S Patel 92; E Oosthuizen 5-35)
Namibia won by 39 runs

Botswana 212-8 (K Modise 71 not out, T Trivedi 41, D Seqeira 34; Wiaswa 4-30)
Uganda 214-5 (A Ochan 56)
Uganda won by five wickets

Nigeria 166-8 (J Omorgabe 42, U Bankole 40; O Mandari 4-29, H Abbas 3-29)
Tanzania 167-3 (S Abdul 54 not out, H Abdala 32 not out; U Bankole 2-30)
Tanzania won by seven wickets

Ghana 205 all out (J Vifah 47; T Nyirongo 3-23, S Havalewala 3-41)
Zambia 208-7 (S Havalewala 50 not out, G Kandela 48 not out; P Anunya 5-28)
Zambia won by three wickets