ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 26, 2021

Gerhard Erasmus

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

Namibia

Pre Match Media Conference

Q. Last week was quite historic for the Namibian cricket. It must be great to be in the Super 12s. Could you touch on some of the challenges that you've gone through as a side over the past few years, and how do they hold you in good steel with what's to come in the next few weeks?

GERHARD ERASMUS: I think I can go back as far as, say, three years ago we were in quite a tough place as a cricketing nation, not only financially where we were not really where we wanted to be, but as a team we weren't really performing.

I think at the tournaments, like our qualifying tournaments we tend to just fall away at the end. You know, we really had to turn it around. It's been an effort to do that. There had to be some great role players within Cricket Namibia from the coaching staff to the board members to the administration itself that have all had to buy in to one vision and go somewhere.

Now we sort of are, I guess, at the peak and reaping those rewards, which is great. Hopefully we can continue going upwards.

Q. Finally, you played Scotland twice in the leadup to the T20 World Cup. What did you learn from those games in terms of matchups? And how crucial would it be to start off with a win tomorrow?

GERHARD ERASMUS: Yeah, we played Scotland quite a lot, to be honest. I think all of the players know each other, and the matchups are there. I don't think there will be any surprises from any side. It's about who can execute the best on the day.

I think we're going with some nice momentum into this clash tomorrow night. We've played well, I think, on the Abu Dhabi stadium as well. Yeah, I think, if we can work up with that energy and positive momentum going into that clash, I think we can get the better of them.

Q. You just mentioned that you'll be going into the Scotland game with some momentum. How do you look at Scotland's performance against Afghanistan where they were bowled out for 60?

GERHARD ERASMUS: We all know cricket's a rough game, and you can have days like that where another side is really on strong and you find you're going out. We won't particularly be looking at just their performance. We'll first focus on ourselves.

But you know cricket, especially T20 cricket, has a typical momentum and an amount of energy behind it that other formats perhaps don't. So we'll be looking to use our momentum, our positive energy from the previous game, and throw that into the Scotland clash. Yeah, hopefully on the day that can be too much for them.

But we know their quality side. They're going to try and turn around the previous performance. They'll be hungry to do that. We need to be ready for that.

Q. Can you give us a bit of a flavour of what it's like back in Namibia, support for you guys and excitement ahead of the rest of the tournament?

GERHARD ERASMUS: Obviously, very, very proud moment for us. We have a very proud fan base, a very close one. I think all of our supporters around are personally familiar with the squad members.

Yeah, it's been quite tough times during COVID over the last two years. If I can say, economy-wise, it's been quite tough in Namibia. Everyone is quite excited to see athletes do well in sport, and it has the power to change the mood in the country, I think.

This along with probably our Olympians doing well over the last couple of months, it's a great sporting achievement which has really uplifted the spirits of the nation back home, and we're a very proud team to have done that.

Q. You've been around the team for a few years now. How does this rate in terms of your cricket experiences throughout your career? And maybe give us a bit of an idea of what it's like to be a World Cup associate member.

GERHARD ERASMUS: Obviously as the captain of the team, it has to be right up there since it's the biggest achievement under my leadership. As a player as well, I'm very excited to rub shoulders with the best in the world.

Associate cricket is quite a dogfight at times, and if you get through stages like this and you get to reap these rewards, most definitely you enjoy all of those fruits.

Over the next week, we're going to have to up our level and get into this challenge with all of our energy, but we're ready to do that. I think, if we can start off well tomorrow against the Scottish side, that will give us more and more momentum to get away with and hopefully have a good one throughout the tournament.

Q. Despite batting being your strength, do you feel the side is over dependent on David Wiese considering the experience he brings and the fact that he's already finished off a few games for you this tournament?

GERHARD ERASMUS: Yeah, you rightly say that David has had an excellent tournament for us although I don't think we've quite fired as a team as a whole. So that's great to know that there's some potential sitting in the dugout still that has to come right sometime in the tournament.

We'll be looking to tap into the resources of each and every individual on the team, not only a few of the guys. There's lots of guys that still need to prove themselves or want to prove themselves. Run this course around, get some wickets. I believe they can do it. We have full confidence in every guy we select on the day.

These guys have been playing quality cricket for two years against club position back in South Africa in different conditions. So there's definitely a performance or two around the corner for some other guys. I'm going to be very excited as a captain to see who it is next.