Merwe Gerhard Erasmus (born 11 April 1995) is a Namibian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er, and the current captain of the

Namibia cricket team The Namibia national cricket team, nicknamed the Eagles, is the men's team that represents the Republic of Namibia in international cricket. It is organised by Cricket Namibia which became an associate member of the International Cricket Cou ...

Career

Erasmus first played at senior level for Namibia in February 2011, aged 15, against a touring

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...

(MCC) side. He made his international and first-class debut for Namibia against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in September 2011 in the 2011–2013 ICC Intercontinental Cup, and at the age of 16, became the youngest player in the team's history. He was named in Namibia's squad for the

2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was played in early 2012 as a part of ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier series. This edition of the qualifier for the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 was an expanded version comprising ten qualifiers from regional Twenty ...

. Erasmus was named in the Namibia under-19s squad for the

2012 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2012 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was a one-day cricket competition for sixteen international U-19 cricketing teams which was held in August 2012. This was the ninth time that the tournament was held since its inception back in 1988. The ...

in Australia. He captained the team at the

2014 Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2014 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was a one-day cricket competition for sixteen international U-19 cricketing teams which was played in the United Arab Emirates. This was the tenth edition of the tournament. Sixteen nations competed: the ten ...

in the United Arab Emirates. In January 2018, Erasmus was named in Namibia's squad for the

2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two was a cricket tournament that took place in February 2018 in Namibia. The United Arab Emirates won the tournament, after beating Nepal by 7 runs in the final. Canada and Namibia finished third and fourth ...

tournament. In August 2018, he was named in Namibia's squad for the

2018 Africa T20 Cup The 2018 Africa T20 Cup was the fourth and final edition of the Africa T20 Cup, a Twenty20 cricket tournament. It was held in South Africa in September 2018, as a curtain-raiser to the 2018–19 South African domestic season. Provincial side Kwa ...

. In March 2019, Erasmus was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the

2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two The 2019 ICC World Cricket League Division Two was an international cricket tournament that took place in April 2019 in Namibia. It was contested between six teams; Canada, Hong Kong, Oman, Papua New Guinea, the United States and tournament hos ...

tournament. Namibia finished in the top four places in the tournament, therefore gaining

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) status. Erasmus made his ODI debut for Namibia on 27 April 2019, against

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

, in the tournament's final. In May 2019, he was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the

Regional Finals In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the

2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier The 2018–19 ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier was the tournament played as part of qualification process for the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Twelve regional qualifiers were held by the International Cricket Council (ICC), with 62 teamsZambia were ...

tournament in Uganda. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) debut for Namibia against

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

on 20 May 2019. In June 2019, Erasmus was one of twenty-five cricketers to be named in

Cricket Namibia The Namibia Cricket Board, known commercially as Cricket Namibia, is the official Sport governing body, governing body of the sport of cricket in Namibia. Its current headquarters is in Windhoek, Namibia. Cricket Namibia is Namibia's representa ...

's Elite Men's Squad ahead of the 2019–20 international season. In September 2019, he was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine which teams would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finishing ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. He was the leading run-scorer for Namibia in the tournament, with 268 runs in nine matches. Following the conclusion of the final, he was named as the player of the tournament. In September 2021, Erasmus was named as the captain of Namibia's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

, with the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the world governing body of cricket. Headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, its members are List of International Cricket Council members, 108 national associations, with 12 List of Internation ...

(ICC) later naming him as the key player in Namibia's team. 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. 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 In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at t ...

. The following month, in the second match against Uganda, Erasmus also scored his first century in T20I cricket, with an unbeaten 100 against

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. In January 2023, Erasmus won the

's Associate Cricketer of the Year award. 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.

Personal life

As of 2018, Erasmus was a fourth-year law student at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

in South Africa. His father Francois runs a family law firm in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

and is a former president of

and associate director of the

(ICC).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erasmus, Gerhard 1995 births Living people Cricketers from Windhoek Namibian cricketers Namibia One Day International cricketers Namibia Twenty20 International cricketers