Greg Barclay, the chairperson of the International Cricket Council (ICC) board, has called on Namibia to finalise its cricket field ahead of co-hosting the 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup.
The 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup will be the 14th edition of the Cricket World Cup contested by men’s national teams. It is scheduled to be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in October or November 2027.
South Africa and Zimbabwe co-hosted the tournament for the first time in 2003, while Namibia will serve as host for the first time.
Speaking at a breakfast event held here on Thursday, Barclay said Namibia has two years to get its infrastructure ready if they are to co-host the world cup.
“As a country, you will need infrastructure that is ready to host the world cup. These will have to be platforms that can be used to put up cameras and accommodate the spectators attending the games,” he said.
Barclay noted that hosting the world cup will have a major economic benefit for the country.
“Over two billion people view games broadcast during the world cup which in the end will allow the country to be marketed to the world. The ICC World Cup is the third biggest sporting event from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup and the Olympics, therefore hosting such an event will have a huge economic boost to any country as visiting tourists will spend in the country,” Barclay said.
Speaking to Nampa, Cricket Namibia Chief Executive Officer Johan Muller said Namibia as a country does not have the infrastructure ready to host the 2027 ICC World Cup.
“At the moment what we do is rent from clubs that have multiple infrastructure at their properties to host games,” he said.
Muller added that for the past six months, they had productive negotiations with the City of Windhoek and are ready to sign a lease agreement for a piece of land that will be used to construct their offices and playing ground.
“There are some sensitive clauses that we need to iron out in the contract before we sign, but we are getting to a point where we need to start with infrastructure development ahead of the 2026 Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup that we are supposed to host before the 2027 ICC 50 Overs World Cup,” Muller said.
Source: NAMPA