Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus and Dutch all-rounder Colin Ackermann reacted similarly at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Monday, February 9, calling on the ICC to schedule more international matches for the affiliates against high-profile opposition.
Both teams, drawn in a group with India and Pakistan, had limited match practice ahead of the tournament. The Netherlands last played international cricket in September on a tour of Bangladesh, while Namibia played a lone warm-up match against South Africa in October in preparation for the 2026 FIFA T20 World Cup.
In contrast, India have played 28 international matches since September 2025.
With the associated nations, they are increasingly pushing for full-member teams – as seen in Nepal’s performance against England and a spirited performance by the Netherlands against Pakistan – once again questions were raised about the lack of consistent display for the smaller nations.
Erasmus pointed out that affiliate teams often falter around the 14th or 15th over, a stage he believes comes down to experience and familiarity with high-pressure moments.
Ackermann echoed those sentiments moments later, noting that the Netherlands’ last international appearance against a full-fledged nation came a few months ago.
“One thing that’s missing is regular exposure against bigger teams. Coming into this tournament, our last match against a full country was last year against Bangladesh. That’s something we’re trying to change – playing more matches against stronger teams. We’re training extremely hard as a group, but we definitely need more match exposure against top teams,” Ackermann said ahead of the Netherlands’ clash with Namibia.
The lack of guaranteed match practice ahead of the world tournament paints a worrying picture of the structure of the international calendar, but Erasmus suggested that progress is being made, at least in Namibia’s case.
“We have been very fortunate. The ICC has supported us over the last two years in building our facilities. We have the hosting rights for the 2026 Under-19 World Cup and the 2027 Men’s Under-50 World Cup and they have been great in helping us build the infrastructure. We now have our first cricket ground of our own,” Erasmus said.
“We don’t have to share rugby anymore. We have a high-performance set-up with gyms and recovery rooms and enough turf nets and strips to train properly. So the answer is to play more often and also more resources and infrastructure,” he added.
In the Netherlands, the situation is slightly different. Several of their players are regulars in County Cricket, making them consistent in the UK’s top flight.
Despite narrowly losing to Pakistan in their opening game, Ackermann believes it is time for the Dutch to start thinking beyond the group stage. To improve their readiness, the Netherlands held pre-tournament training camps in South Africa and Mumbai – preparation that showed in their performance against Pakistan.
“In the near future, our goal at this World Cup is to reach the semi-finals. I believe we have the squad and the ability to achieve that. It hasn’t been the best start, but we still have three big games ahead of us,” said Ackermann.
With games against Namibia and India looming, Ackermann added that the Netherlands have beaten Test playing nations before and are capable of doing so again.
“We have a lot of confidence as a team. We’ve shown in the past that we can compete with Test nations, so there’s a lot of confidence in the group. This team has worked extremely hard over the last six months to become the best version of themselves and I’m sure you’ll see that in the next three games,” he concluded.
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Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
February 9, 2026
