Former South Africa player David Wiese to represent Namibia in the T20 World Cup 2021
Former South African all-rounder David Wiese will be representing Namibia in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021. Namibia's national coach Pierre de Bruyn confirmed the news in a recent interview.
David Wiese, who last played for South Africa in 2016, took the Kolpak route after being ignored from the national side. The 36-year-old featured in six ODIs and 20 T20Is for the Proteas, scoring a total of 194 runs and picking up 33 wickets in international cricket.
Pierre de Bruyn explained that David Wiese is eligible to play for Namibia as his father was born in the country. De Bruyn expressed his excitement at having a veteran of 255 T20 games to be representing Namibia.
He was quoted as saying by The Namibian:
“David's dad was born here, so he's eligible to play for Namibia. He's playing in the T20 Blast in England, but will join us after that and is also available going forward after the World Cup, so I'm super excited about that.
"His team, Sussex, are in the quarterfinals so we must see how far he gets there, but I hope he will be able to join for the Free State trip at least."
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David Wiese to strengthen the Namibian side in the T20 World Cup
While Namibia have many exciting players to choose from, very few of their cricketers have as much experience as David Wiese. The Roodepoort-born player is expected to add great stability to the Namibian line-up, contributing to all departments of the game.
With the experience of playing in various T20 leagues around the world, including the IPL, he will be hopeful of making an impact with his new international team.
Namibia and Zimbabwe are set to play three T20Is and as many ODIs against Zimbabwe Emerging team starting from today.
Namibia's squad for the series against Zimbabwe:
Gerhard Erasmus (captain), Zane Green, Stephen Baard, Craig Williams, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Michiel du Preez, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Karl Birkenstock, Ruben Trumpelmann, Pikky Ya France, Bernard Scholtz, Mauritius Ngupita, Ben Shikongo, Dewald Nell, Michael van Lingen and Shawn Fouche.