ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

economy rates below 3 runs per over which restricted the opposition to moderate totals. Suresh Navaratnam, one of Asia’s top all-rounders of his generation, was the most impressive and the only one to achieve a return of five wickets in an innings. He was well supported by Sarath Jayawardene, a Sri Lankan employed in Malaysia as a cricket coach and who qualified by residence. Shukri Abdul Rahim, the youngest player in the side, showed promise with his left-arm spin but Rohan Suppiah, although economical, disappointed with his off breaks and took only one wicket. Basically this was a Malaysian side in transition with eight of the 15 players used being born in the 1980s. However, with the exception of Shukri, none has performed consistently well in recent years and most have since been replaced by a new generation of more successful players who are underpinning the current revival of Malaysian cricket. NAMIBIA Played Won Drawn Lost Won on first inns Lost on first inns Cup 15 8 2 0 5 Qualifier 1 0 1 0 0 Shield 4 3 0 0 1 Highest team total 480-9 dec v Canada Windhoek 2007 609 v Uganda Windhoek 2010 Lowest team total 95 v Ireland Dublin 2006 Highest individual total 230 G.Snyman v Kenya Sharjah 2008 Best bowling analysis 8-34 M.C.van Zyl v Ireland Dublin 2006 Best wicketkeeping 4 c (Q) H.Ludik v Nepal Windhoek 2006 4 c T.Verwey v United Arab Emirates Windhoek 2006 4 c R.van Schoor v Scotland Windhoek 2008 Q = performance in qualifying match in 2006 (not first-class). Performances in italics are for the Intercontinental Shield. Namibia improved each year in the competition progressing from last place in the Africa Group in 2004 to reaching the final in 2008 where they were beaten by Ireland, despite gaining a first innings lead of 55 runs. This achievement was remarkable in that it coincided with a period when several of their established players either retired or were approaching the end of their cricketing careers, and with a time when a number of their younger players, having come through the Under 19 age group, left the country to pursue higher education in South Africa and were therefore unavailable for selection. The experience gained from playing in South Africa’s provincial amateur first-class competition was invaluable and clearly gave their players the confidence to perform at this level. The strength of Namibia was that the players performed as a team so that if some of the batting failed there were invariably two or more players who would come to the rescue by scoring fifties. Most of the time, the team down to numbers ten and eleven were capable of making runs and virtually all the team could bowl as well. In some matches it seemed as though players were being asked to bowl because they were capable and expected to, even though it was not really necessary to use seven or eight bowlers to dismiss the opposition. Overall the bowling was stronger than the batting with Ian van Zyl, Louis Klazinga and Jan-Berrie Burger having strike rates in the 30s and Gerrie Snyman and Kola Burger in the low 40s. Kola Burger, Snyman and Klazinga took 35 or more wickets in the competition, a reflection of the strength of the pace attack. Snyman was also the most successful batsman; the only player from his country to score over 1,000 runs, he had an outstanding strike rate of 86.95. When in the mood, and he generally was, he could take the opposition attack apart. His innings of 230 from 201 balls against Kenya at Sharjah in 2008, was one of the highlights of the tournament, particularly as it accounted for 81.5% of his team’s total. If Namibia needed quick runs from the tail, Kola Burger often provided them; his strike rate for his 422 runs in 21 innings was 91.34. Unfortunately changes in the way countries qualified for the competition meant that Namibia were never given a chance to show if they could repeat their performance of 2008. For the 2009-10 competition, qualification depended on finishing in the top six in the ICC World Cup 275 Countries