The third round of matches in World Cricket League (WCL) Division Three took place today (Sunday October 26) in Malaysia .The top two nations will advance to from this event to WCL Division Two in Namibia. WCL Division 2 is a critical tournament for Canada and the recent news that diplomatic efforts will see Canada play some games in Mumbai before WCL Division 2 was welcome. The WCL Division 2 line-up includes Kenya, Namibia and the Netherlands.
Namibia competes in 3-day, 50 over and T20 Cricket South African tournaments that provide useful development opportunities for the Namibian players Namibia was set to play South Western Districts on Sunday in the Cricket South Africa Provincial T20 Challenge competition. Namibia lost to Western Districts by seven wickets on Saturday (October 25), the last day of a scheduled game in the Sunfoil Cup 3-day competition.

Both Namibia and Kenya participated in the Africa Cricket Association Cup in South Africa during September 2014 that was apparently won by Kenya.
The Netherlands will include preparations from January 3 through and 15, 2015 in Pretoria, South Africa, in the immediate lead-up to WCL Division 2.
In the Africa Cricket Association Cup Kenya beat Namibia, Uganda and Tanzania, tied with a South African XI and lost to a Zimbabwe XI. Namibia scored 272/9 from 50 overs against Kenya who reached victory with 273/4 after 49 overs. Kenya’s top scorers were Maurice Ouma (69*) and Collins Obuya (58). Namibia had leading contributions from Raymond van Schoor (72) and captain Nicolaas Scholtz (70).
Not too much seems to be readily available about Kenya’s upcoming domestic and international activities. Mombasa Sports Club A beat Coast Gymkhana in the final of a Coast Cricket Association competition in late September 2014. Cricket Kenya’s website lacked news of upcoming games in other domestic competitions as of Saturday (October 25). But somewhere along the way there will at minimum be some domestic cricket action.
Namibia has played three Sunfoil Cup 3-day games this season and is due to have played three more 3-day games before WCL Division 2 takes place in mid-January 2015. Two of Namibia’s 3-day games are scheduled for December against Kwa-Zulu Natal Inland and Free State. Namibia will also play a game against each December opponent in the Cricket South Africa 50- over challenge. This should prove useful for Namibia’s WCL preparations.
Later this week Namibia will play South West Districts in the Sunfoil 3-day competition. The two teams will also play one game in the Cricket South Africa Provincial T20 Challenge.
Sunday’s WCL Division 3 games saw Nepal post 263/9 and bowl out Singapore for 73 before some rain arrived that interrupted the other two matches. Wicketkeeper/batsman Christian Burgess struck 82 as Bermuda took 257/8 off Malaysia’s bowling. Malaysia’s innings was eventually ended by rain at 179/7 from 43 of a revised 49 overs. One over had been deducted due to an earlier stoppage for rain. So Bermuda gained a first tournament win by 37 runs under
the D/L method. Uganda scored 215/8 and won by 24 runs under the D/L method after the USA innings ended due to rain on 128/6 after 35.4 overs.
Uganda currently heads the WCL Division 3 standings with 3 wins from 3 games. Nepal lost to Uganda in the opening round of matches, but now has 2 wins and 1 loss after 3 games. The four other countries have each won one and lost two.
Life in WCL Division 1 has the benefit not only of extra financial support from the ICC but of stability for a few years, unlike the two-up and two-down world of WCL Division 2 and lower divisions. Two of the current WCL Division 3 teams will be promoted to WCL Division 2, but two countries will be relegated to WCL Division 4. The occasional cloudburst may decide who goes down, and may even decide who goes up. There is not much scope for a poor performance in any game in this roller-coaster setup.
After Nepal’s Sunday game had ended and while the other two WCL Division 2 games seemed to be in ongoing rain delay mode, Namibia scored most of 172/6 from 20 overs against North West in the Cricket South Africa Provincial T20 Challenge. Gerrie Snyman hit a quick 34 out of Namibia’s 40/1 after 4.1 overs. Fellow-opener Stephen Baard made 38 and Sorel Berger struck 53.
Four different bowlers were used by Namibia as North West piled up 72/0 from five overs before a fifth, Christi Viljoen bowled a maiden over to stem the flow of runs in the sixth over.
Namibian captain Nicolaas Scholtz scored 118 in the first innings and 66 in the second in the Sunfoil 3-day game defeat against North West. He also lead his team with 99* in a Cricket South Africa 50-over loss to Eastern Province. Namibia made 269/5 from 50 overs in that game. Raymond van Schoor made 103* in Sunfoil 3-day action against Western Province and 90 against Eastern Province.
Gerrie Snyman (56) and Stephen Baard (54) provided a good start in Nambia’s previous T20 game where 172/8 proved sufficient for victory against Western Province. Sunday’s game between Namibia and North West continues, as do Namibia’s preparations for both hosting and participating in the January 2015 World Cricket League Division 2. The flow of ball-by-ball news seems to have halted on Cricinfo with North West on 78/4 after 7.4 overs. Grant Mokoena is on 40 from 18 balls; his last three runs have taken 5 balls. Fellow-opener Niel Bredenkamp is on 38.
There’s a long way to go for many countries before the middle of January 2015, including some very important WCL Division 3 games in Malaysia over the next few days. (EN)