Gerhard Erasmus
Personal information
Full name
Merwe Gerhard Erasmus
Born (1995-04-11) 11 April 1995 (age 28)
Windhoek, Namibia
Height1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off break
RoleAll-rounder
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 18)27 April 2019 v Oman
Last ODI19 February 2024 v Netherlands
T20I debut (cap 4)20 May 2019 v Ghana
Last T20I30 November 2023 v Nigeria
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I FC LA
Matches 42 52 38 99
Runs scored 1,614 1,194 1,255 3,031
Batting average 43.62 32.27 20.24 37.88
100s/50s 2/12 1/7 1/3 2/23
Top score 125 100* 192 125
Balls bowled 912 571 146 1,119
Wickets 28 35 2 35
Bowling average 23.14 14.17 52.0 22.97
5 wickets in innings 1 0 0 1
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 5/28 3/12 2/46 5/28
Catches/stumpings 23/– 34/– 24/2 66/
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 19 February 2024

Merwe Gerhard Erasmus (born 11 April 1995) is a Namibian cricketer,[1] and the current captain of the Namibia cricket team.[2]

Career

Erasmus first played at senior level for Namibia in February 2011, aged 15, against a touring Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) side.[3] He made his international and first-class debut against Ireland in September 2011 in the 2011–2013 ICC Intercontinental Cup,[4] and at the age of 16, became the youngest player in the team's history.[5] He was a member of Namibia's squad for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier.[6]

Erasmus was included in the Namibia under-19s squad for the 2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Australia.[7] He captained the team at the 2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.[8]

Erasmus played in Namibia's squad for the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament.[9] In August 2018, he was named in Namibia's squad for the 2018 Africa T20 Cup.[10]

In March 2019, Erasmus was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament.[11] Namibia finished in the top four places in the tournament, therefore gaining One Day International (ODI) status.[12] Erasmus made his ODI debut for Namibia on 27 April 2019, against Oman, in the tournament's final.[13] In May 2019, he was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the Regional Finals of the 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier tournament in Uganda.[14][15] He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for Namibia against Ghana on 20 May 2019.[16]

In June 2019, Erasmus was one of twenty-five cricketers to be named in Cricket Namibia's Elite Men's Squad ahead of the 2019–20 international season.[17][18] In September 2019, he was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates.[19][20] He was the leading run-scorer for Namibia in the tournament, with 268 runs in nine matches.[21] Following the conclusion of the final, he was named as the player of the tournament.[22]

In September 2021, Erasmus was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup,[23] with the International Cricket Council (ICC) later naming him as the key player in Namibia's team.[24] In a warm-up match against Scotland before the tournament, he broke a finger while fielding. However, he decided to continue playing in the tournament and captain his team in spite of the injury.[25]

In March 2022, in the second match of the 2022 United Arab Emirates Tri-Nation Series, Erasmus scored his first century in ODI cricket, with 121 not out.[26] The following month, in the second match against Uganda, Erasmus also scored his first century in T20I cricket,[27] with an unbeaten 100 against Uganda.[28]

In January 2023, Erasmus won the International Cricket Council's Associate Cricketer of the Year award.[29] Erasmus scored 956 ODI runs at an average of 56.23 and took a dozen wickets in 2022, and scored a century in both ODI and T20I formats.[30]

Personal life

As of 2018, Erasmus was a fourth-year law student at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. His father Francois runs a family law firm in Windhoek and is a former president of Cricket Namibia and associate director of the International Cricket Council (ICC).[3]

References

  1. ^ "Gerhard Erasmus". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Erasmus Ton carries Namibia to victory". Cricket South Africa. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b Della Penna, Peter (12 February 2018). "A tournament that could decide Gerhard Erasmus' career". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Belfast, Sep 6 - 9 2011, ICC Intercontinental Cup". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
  5. ^ Schütz, Helge (28 May 2020). "Spotlight on Gerhard Erasmus". The Namibian. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  6. ^ "Namibia news: Sarel Burger to lead Namibia in World T20 qualifiers | Other Countries Cricket News". ESPN Cricinfo. Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
  7. ^ "All 16 team squads announced for ICC U19 CWC, ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2012 News –". Official Website. 12 July 2012. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  8. ^ "Gerhard Erasmus to captain Namibia at U-19 World Cup". ESPNcricinfo. 16 January 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Six teams vying for the final two spots in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Cricket Namibia to compete in T20 Africa Cup". The Namibian. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  11. ^ "The Squad Participating In The ICC World League 2 Tournament". Cricket Namibia. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Papua New Guinea secure top-four finish on dramatic final day". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  13. ^ "Final, ICC World Cricket League Division Two at Windhoek, Apr 27 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  14. ^ "Six teams looking to keep T20 World Cup dreams alive in Africa final". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  15. ^ "African men in Uganda for T20 showdown". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  16. ^ "5th Match, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Africa Region Final at Kampala, May 20 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Breaking News – Announcement of the 2019–2020 National Elite Training Squad". Cricket Namibia. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  18. ^ "Elite cricket training squad announced". Erongo. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  19. ^ "ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier Send Off". Cricket Namibia. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  20. ^ "Captains enthusiastic ahead of ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  21. ^ "ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier, 2019/20 - Namibia: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  22. ^ "Roelof van der Merwe and Brandon Glover help Netherlands defend title". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  23. ^ "Namibia name T20 World Cup squad, include David Wiese". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Namibia's golden generation ready to make waves after 18-year absence from the big stage". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  25. ^ "'If we create a brand that people love, cricket won't just be a white man's sport, it'll be a Namibian sport'". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  26. ^ "Brilliant Erasmus leads Namibia to victory". The Namibian. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  27. ^ "Centuries in Twenty20 International cricket – innings by innings". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  28. ^ "Uganda beat Namibia despite Erasmus century". The Namibian. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  29. ^ "Erasmus on top of Associate world". The Namibian. Retrieved 26 January 2023.
  30. ^ "Winner of the Men's Associate Cricketer of the Year revealed". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 24 January 2023.

External links

ICC Men's Associate player of the year
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