Former South Africa allrounder David Wiese to debut for Namibia at T20 World Cup

Former South Africa allrounder David Wiese is aiming to play in a second T20 World Cup, five years after his first, and for a different country. Wiese is in line to represent Namibia, and qualifies to play for them immediately, by first descent, since his father was born there. Cricket Namibia CEO Johan Muller confirmed to Cricday that Wiese has made himself available, though the squad has not yet been finalised.

The ICC's deadline for the submitting squads for the tournament is September 10.

If Wiese is named in the Namibia squad, he will also make his debut for the country, having not played in any of their matches so far. His last international was in March 2016, before he signed a Kolpak deal with Sussex in 2017. Wiese has remained with the county as an overseas player and has also turned out for London Spirit in the Hundred. He could join a strong South African contingent in Nambia, who are coached by former Titans player Pierre de Bruyn and also have Albie Morkel as part of the backroom staff.

As for the 36-year-old Wiese, he was an in-demand T20 cricketer at his peak, playing in leagues such as the CPL, the BPL, the PSL, and the IPL. Between August 2013 and March 2016, he also turned out in six ODIs and 20 T20Is - for South Africa - but with limited success.

Nambia join South Africa as the only two countries from the African continent who will compete at this year's T20 World Cup, after Zimbabwe failed to qualify because their board was temporarily banned by the ICC at the time. This will be Namibia's first T20 World Cup appearance after they qualified by beating Oman in the playoffs of the qualifiers in Dubai in October 2019. Since then, Namibia have only played three T20I matches, against Uganda in April this year, and are currently hosting a Zimbabwe Emerging squad in preparation for the tournament.