Up.
Namibia starting their two-week tour of Europe at Mannofield, Aberdeen, with a rather weak team, without much relish, although it does include lower middle order stars Kotze and Snyman.
Stefan Swanepoel: Has been around for a while, played the 2003 WC IIRC. One of the rare specialist batsmen, with two first class fifties (v Kenya and Uganda), and 142 at U-19 level v Scotland. Usually a lower-order man, though.
Dawid Botha: Four fifties in the U-19 World Cup, opened the batting against Nepal in the play-off without much success.
Sarel Burger: Allrounder who would primarily make the team for his seam bowling. Have no idea why he's batting three unless they've messed up the team sheets and it's actually Jan-Berrie
Henno Prinsloo: has experience slaying Scots, with 28* and 10-4-13-1 in the U-19 World Cup. Good batting then, with one fifty and 219 runs @ 43.60
*Deon Kotze: Captain, maybe Namibia's most experienced batsman - has played since 1994. Certainly one of the most consistent.
Gerrie Snyman: Aggressive, hard-hitting allrounder. Has a one-day century v Mashonaland, looks to have come on quite a bit in his batting recently, with two half-centuries in the playoff v Nepal.
+Hugo Ludik: Young lad who took over for Melt van Schoor behind the sticks after the 2003 WC, presumably on batting ability.
Nicolaas Scholtz: 19-year-old specialist leg break bowler who hasn't been given much of a go in his previous games.
Bernie Burger: South African-born seamer who takes wickets with regularity, though his best spell recorded on CricketArchive is 4-58 v Zimbabwe A.
Louis van der Westhuizen: 18-year-old slow left armer with 8 U-19 scalps. Intriguing decision to bring two spinners to Europe in May.
Ian (MC) van Zyl: Seamer who managed the art of going wicketless through the ICC Trophy. Making up the numbers?
Scotland almost full-strength, too, I suppose, although I seem to be missing Sean Weeraratna. And no Gavin Hamilton, I thought he'd be useful as a batsman? Possibly Cedric English should have played, too.
*Craig Wright: Captain by weight of experience (tho Stanger has a lot, too). Occasionally strikes with bat and ball, such as 88* v Surrey and 4-38 v Ireland last season.
Dougie Lockhart: Always a good batting talent, and has played for Oxford University and Derbyshire 2nd XI in addition to Scotland. However, the big runs have eluded him, and not even the 103 against Durham in a spring warm-up helped him turn the corne
Ian Stanger: Scottish cricket's grand old potato. Batted everywhere in the order - debuted as opener v Durham in the season opener.
Ryan Watson: Zimbabwean-born hard-hitting allrounder, who along with Yasir Arafat picked up the most wickets for Scotland last season. Also a useful bat when he gets it right.
Fraser Watts: Born in Norfolk, of all things. Nevertheless, a quite good batsman with successive Intercontinental centuries in 2004. Could pick up another one here.
+Colin Smith: Wicket-keeper with some talent with the bat, as his ICC Trophy average of 52 shows.
Neil McCallum: 28-year-old specialist batsman who represented Scotland 10 times in minor matches between 2000 and 2002 - ending up with a Pickup-esque average of 4.83. His initials: NFI.
Paul Hoffmann: Australian-born seamer who keeps things tight. Very tight. Had a very miserly economy rate in the NL last season.
Gordon Goudie: 19-year-old seamer who plies his trade with Middlesex 2nd XI. The way Middlesex' bowling attack is going at present, he might get a start with the 1st XI quite soon.
Dewald Nel: South African-born seamer who features with regularity, despite being a true rabbit and not rarely getting slogged out of the attac
Ross Lyons: The team's token spinner. Not much of a career to write home about yet, though.
The day's play at Mannofield thus far:
Hoffmann and Nel took the new ball after Kotze won the toss and batted, but it was first change bowler Wright who got the break-through, dismissing Botha for 10. Swanepoel hung around with Sarel Burger, who hit a restrained knock but found the gap when needed, but two catches behind saw Namibia reel at 51 for 3. Captain Kotze could only add 3 in a stand of 19 before being out to Dewald Nel, but an aggressive stand between Swanepoel and Gerrie Snyman took Namibia past 100, then to 143 for 4, before Snyman charged Lyons and was stumped. Burger went without having added much, ending on 69, and Lyons (12.4-8-10-4) and Hoffmann (16-8-18-2) tied up the tail as Namibia went from 156 for 5 to 168 all out.
Scotland to bat.
