But the African country suddenly put itself on the cricketing as well as the athletics map when the national team qualified for the 2003 World Cup by reaching the final of the ICC Trophy two years ago.

Forget Fredericks - the names to note now are Bryan Murgatroyd, Bjorn Kotze and Rudi van Vuuren.

They, along with captain and competition top runscorer Daniel Keulder, were the men behind Namibia's startling improvement from 15th out of 22 in only their second ICC Trophy in Kuala Lumpur in 1997 to runners-up to Holland four years later.

Dismissed into Division Two thanks to their lowly seeding, Namibia were no one's idea of a team likely to challenge senior associate members such as Holland, Scotland or Ireland for the title.

But the value of experience gained from participating in the UCB Bowl for South Africa's domestic 2nd XIs was seen as Keulder led from the front as opening batsman to help his team top their group and remain undefeated.

A comfortable play-off win over Bermuda saw Namibia into the Super League and eventually into the final against Holland.

Namibia had already beaten top seeds Scotland and Holland themselves to prove their worth in the Super League - but in the final they lost in a thriller to the Dutch, who needed 10 off the last over and got home by two wickets off the last ball.

Some canny cricket from Holland's vastly experienced captain Roland Lefebvre and an unbeaten half-century from Jacob-Jan Esmeijer just gained the day in a match which also saw Murgatroyd hit 50 for Namibia.

Keulder's side had left no one in any doubt of their right to go to the World Cup.

They have qualified the hard way and have every reason to hope they can give just as good an account of themselves as any associate member ever has.

Namibia's most recent form - against neighbours Zimbabwe A and in the absence of veteran Keulder - is probably a reliable guide to their World Cup prospects.

They were competitive but were beaten comfortably. Against mostly vastly superior opposition in Pool A in southern Africa they cannot realistically hope to upset one of the major cricketing forces.

But they should not embarrass themselves either - and, of course, there is the opportunity to gain revenge over old foes Holland for that last-ball defeat two years ago.