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England request for beer match declined

England's hopes of giving all their squad a decent practice against Namibia have been thwarted after local officials refused a request to allow 14 players to take part in the two warm-up matches at Windhoek

Wisden Cricinfo staff
20-Nov-2004


Andy Waller, Namibia's coach, chats with Deon Kotze, the captain © Getty Images
England's hopes of giving all their squad a decent practice against Namibia have been thwarted after local officials refused a request to allow 14 players to take part in each of the two warm-up matches at Windhoek.
Although this kind of situation has happened on recent England tours - not always to the appreciation of local players and officials - the Namibian Cricket Association were having none of it.
"We want to play a proper, 11-a-side match and I know our supporters would want the same. We're expecting a capacity crowd of 4,000," explained Francois Erasmus, the association's chairman. "If England want to give everybody a game, they will have to use the three players who don't appear on Sunday in Tuesday's second match."
"We wanted to play a normal 11-a-side game of cricket," Deon Kotze, Namibia's captain, told the Press Association. "It's the biggest match we've ever played in and possibly even bigger than the World Cup because we're playing this at home. It's the first time we've ever had a team of the standing of England playing in Namibia."
The last - and only - time Namibia played England was in the 2003 World Cup when they took considerable credit despite losing; indeed, at one point they were ahead on Duckworth-Lewis before England rallied. "We enjoyed watching our young players bat and get us into a position when we were on course to win the game," Kotze reflected. "There was actually a bit of panic going through the English ranks, but unfortunately it didn't last long enough."
And unfortunately for Namibia, they have not been given the chance to progress since then. Ahead of the World Cup they gained valuable experience by taking part in South Africa's domestic competitions, but a restructuring of those tournaments brought that to an end.
Their only major games of late have been in the Intercontinental Cup when they were eliminated by Kenya.