South Africa bat first in historic first SA-Namibia T20I

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat as Namibia and the Proteas met for the first time in a T20 International at the newly redeveloped Wanderers Cricket Ground in Windhoek on Saturday, October 11. The oneoff fixture marks the first international meeting between the neighbouring sides in any format and comes with both teams seeking momentum ahead of a busy calendar.

South Africa arrived with a largely young side captained by Donovan Ferreira, who is leading the national T20 side for the first time. The visitors included the returned Quinton de Kock, who has reversed his recent decision to step away from international white ball cricket. Namibia fielded an experienced unit under captain Gerhard Erasmus, fresh from a strong showing in the T20 World Cup Africa Regional Final that secured the team a place at next year’s T20 World Cup.

The playing elevens announced in pre-match updates saw South Africa name Quinton de Kock, Lhuandre Pretorius, Reeza Hendricks, Rubin Hermann, Jason Smith, Donovan Ferreira (c), Andile Simelane, Bjorn Fortuin, Gerald Coetzee, Nandre Burger and Lizaad Williams. Namibia’s XI included Jan Frylinck, Louren Steenkamp, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Gerhard...