Jan Frylinck: The Ultimate Team Man Behind Namibia’s Rapid Growth

Namibia’s success as a cricketing nation over the years has been a tale that will be told for years. Making it to three back-to-back T20 World Cups and competing hard in every single match is, by no stretch of imagination, a small feat. 

What’s better than playing three continuous World Cups, you ask? 

Playing four in a row, of course, and no one would bet against them making qualifying for the event set to be played in India and Sri Lanka next year. 

As an added incentive, Namibia will also co-host the 2027 50-over World Cup along with South Africa and Zimbabwe. However, the team have not earned the right to play in it yet, as they have to go a Qualifier, which is odd to say the least. However, not much can be done about it now, as the ICC has made its final decision.

“It is probably a little bit odd. If you look at all the other nations that will host nations in World Cups, they just got automatic qualification into it. But I mean, it's all done now. The decisions have been made. There's nothing really we can do about the situation,” Namibia all-rounder Jan Frylinck said in a chat with Cricket.com.

“So we just have to go out there, and we have to qualify for the '27 World Cup, and yeah, just do our best to be able to play in that, in that World Cup.”

Namibia have plenty of hurdles on their way to making it to their home World Cup. First, they have to finish in the top four of the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2, and then they have to fight it out at the Qualifiers, where four sides advance to the 14-team event. However, their three losses from four games in the Oman leg of League 2 see them in seventh place.

That is largely due to challenging conditions in Oman, which favoured spinners greatly. As a result, a score of 150 was considered match-winning. In fact, Namibia nearly defended 96 against Oman, and despite a fifer from their skipper Gerhard Erasmus, the hosts got home with two wickets to spare.

“It was interesting conditions, to say the least, in Oman, but, we knew, we knew from a not going there that it was going to be spinning wickets and all that kind of stuff. The conditions were very extreme. We were expecting spinning conditions, but probably not to that extent. That's done now, it's in the past, and we're very much looking forward to our next series that we've got next month [March],” South Africa-born Frylinck, who scored 16, 16, 0 and 9 in those matches, said.

However, if they win all four matches in the home tri-series featuring Canada and the Netherlands, the Eagles could soar to No. 2 in the table, something very possible. 

“I think next month's [March] tri-series is crucial for us. We've been doing a lot of good things, not necessarily getting the results that we wanted, but we are, as a group are very positive that it will change in the next series. We are very much looking forward to that series and then also the one later on in the year in August when we go to Canada to play there. So we've got eight ODIs this year and we, we are very, very positive in how we're going to face up to that challenge,” Frylinck said.

From a bowling all-rounder to now plying his trade just as a top-order batter, Frylinck has gone about this transformation with utmost ease. He has not bowled in international cricket since September last year and has exclusively batted in the top three, even opening in the home T20I tri-series against the visiting USA and the UAE.

One might assume that it could be due to some niggling injuries, but on the contrary, Frylinck, one of many left-arm pacers in the side, has taken this challenge on as it was for the best of the team but is open to returning to bowling, according to the conditions.

“Just a different role in the team. We've got a lot of guys that can take up the bowling load. Just moved into a different role, in our team. Hopefully, I can get the ball in my hands. In the near future,” Frylinck, whose figures of 6/24 against UAE in 2021 were the best for Namibia, said.

“I think it's, it's something that we are working on and we sort of trying to develop. But at this point in time, my role in the team has changed but I'm pretty happy with that role as well. Just looking to fulfil my role in the team and put us in a better position by doing that.”

Moreover, Frylinck believes while David Wiese’s retirement is a massive loss, the input and the knowledge that he has shared have been massive for Namibia.

“A guy like David Wiese, the calibre of player that he is, he brings so much experience into any squad. So any, any team that that loses him, there's a massive, massive hole to fill. But I do think with saying all that, is that he passed on so much information to the rest of the guys that was going to fulfil his role in the future, that he left the team in such good stead when he left because of all the information that he passed down,” Frylinck said.

Frylinck qualifies to play for Namibia through his dad, who he considers one of the biggest factors behind his taking up cricket, constantly pushing him to be the best he can be. The 30-year-old has reached great heights, coming through the ranks right from his school days to the Under-19 days to playing first-class cricket, and now playing at the highest level for Namibia.

Any sportsperson dreams of playing at the World Cup, and Frylinck has been lucky to do so thrice. However, there are moments from such tournaments that live with you forever. He speaks of two such moments.

“The Sri Lanka game. Beating that is going to be tough. Look, beating Sri Lanka as an associate nation is going to be up there with anyone. So, I'm going to say Sri Lanka, but I will, also say on par with that was the performance that we put in against Ireland in the 2021 edition in the final group stage match that we played at Sharjah," Frylinck who was the Player of The Match against Sri Lanka for his all-round brilliance, said.

“I just think that's such a special memory that I've got from all the World Cups that we went to. Playing in that match against Ireland, the performance that we put in against a very good Irish side, I don't think anybody gave us a chance. And then, again, the same thing against Sri Lanka in 2022 in Geelong. I mean, I think the way that they blew us out of the water in that 2021 opening pool match that we played against them, nobody really gave us a chance in that first game again.

“So, yeah, I would say that those two matches rank in the number one spot in my favourite memories.”

With two massive events coming up in 2026 and 2027, Frylinck hopes those years will allow him and Namibia to add to those memories, further enriching Namibian folklore.