Women’s cricket team on the right track

Women’s cricket is one of the fastest-growing sports and Namibia’s under-19 team won the Eight Nations Women’s T20 Cricket tournament held in Gaborone, Botswana, last month.
Team coach Gareth Cloete had high praise for the girls.
In an interview with Namibian Sun Cloete described the experience as a great learning experience for the girls.
“The experience was wonderful and it was a great learning curve for our players as we have been going to Botswana for the last five, six years and we have always been there and about finishing mid-table,” he said.
When Cloete took over the team last year May, the girls ended in second position and had a huge task ahead of them to strive for the top spot.
“What was so nice to see when I took over last year was the standard at which the game was being played,” he said.
He said the team was determined to win the tournament this year.
“We had to do ourselves some justice in terms of our talent and we really put in a lot of work so in terms of learning to play cricket and understanding the game better, this tournament served a great purpose.”
He said the tournament also served as a good preparation because most of them had enough game time with good scores, “so it will stand us in good stead for the upcoming tournament in December.”
Cloete said the team was working on the basics of the game, “because when you do that then you are able to compete, hit and catch the ball properly so we are just working on that and get our players prepared to play at a high level.
“With us winning this tournament we have put our hand up to say please Africa we are here, we have arrived and ready to compete and go places and the girls are ready to work hard and determined to achieve certain goals.”
He said there will now be pressure on the team as they will return to the tournament as defending champions.
“Next year we going back as defending champions and there is now added pressure on us because everybody saw our standard of playing and what we have, and everybody is going to strive to catch up so we really have to make sure that we are on top of our game,” he said.
He stated that the girls just need to play more games, and with the league kicking off, “the girls will gain more experience and learn more about playing the game”.
He said their plan for next year is to play as many matches as they can because there are still a lot of technical things that the team has to work on.
Cloete said although the team is on the right track, being able to coordinate with coaches in the region is one of their challenges.
“Our biggest challenge is to make sure that we coordinate with the coaching in the regions so we ensure that it is at the same standard and when they get here they are not too far behind in terms of skill.”

Team character
He said the way the team conducted itself at the tournament was impressive and showed that the women cricket team has grown.
“The way we played and conducted ourselves was impressive and the girls did a great job, which just shows that we are on the right track and have ticked a couple of boxes in terms of what we wanted to achieve,” he said.
He added that there is a good team spirit, as well as a culture or respect. “I would like to make sure I have created a platform that the girls believe in themselves when I leave this team one day,” he said.
KAINO NGHITONGO