De Kock guest of honour at Namibia's housewarming party

A one off men's T20I between a full-member country and bona fide minnows? Who cares? But there are reasons to pay attention to Namibia's game against South Africa in Windhoek on Saturday.

One is that it will be the first match played at the newly completed Namibia Cricket Ground - the sound of construction bled through the audio from the players' press conference on Friday - which is likely to host matches in the 2027 men's World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

Another is that the Namibians are freshly qualified for next year's World Cup in the format, so best we run the rule over what they can do.

And then there's Quinton. As in De Kock, who is set to play his first international since June last year in the wake of his un-retirement last month.

De Kock is also aboard for the six white-ball games South Africa will play in Pakistan from October 28 to November 8. How did he feel about that assignment?

"I don't think many of us have thought that far," De Kock told the presser. "We're focusing on what's coming tomorrow. Obviously, the Test guys are already there."

De Kock has never been the most forthcoming press conference victim, but he did manage to lift the lid on the South Africans' taste of a reality that teams like England, Australia and India know only too well. Because 17 hours after the first ball is due to be bowled in Windhoek, Aiden Markram will lead out South Africa's Test team 8,530 kilometres away in Lahore.

So the jaunt to Namibia is more about helping the home side open their new venue in style than it is about cricket. All concerned will be careful not to show disrespect to the game, but almost every question at Friday's presser was about the ground rather than what might happen on it on Saturday.

Strangely, considering they are neighbours, Namibia and South Africa have never met in either white-ball format. But there is no question South Africa are heavily favoured to beat a team who are even littler brothers to them than Zimbabwe.

From 1915 to 1950, Namibia - which was then called South West Africa - was effectively a South African colony. Generations of South African men, most of them conscripts, fought in a low-level war on Namibia's northern border with Angola from 1966 to 1990 in what was billed as a bid to curb the spread of communism. In reality, it was also about maintaining Pretoria's control over the territory during the apartheid era.

Happily, times have changed and South Africans are no longer an armed invading force in Namibia. Now they are there simply to play cricket. And be good guests at the home side's housewarming party.

When: October 11, 2025; 2pm Local Time (2pm SAT, noon GMT, 5.30pm IST)

Where: Namibia Cricket Ground, Windhoek

What to expect: Sunshine with a breath of wind. Neither first innings in the two men's T20Is played at this ground in March reached 150 and no team was dismissed, so run-scoring as well as wicket-taking may be challenging.

Team news:

Namibia:The hosts might as well stick with the bulk of the side who have won five of their last six T20Is.

Possible XI: Malan Kruger, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Louren Steenkamp, Gerhard Erasmus (capt), JJ Smit, Ruben Trumpelmann, Zane Green, Jan Balt, Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo.

South Africa: The only survivors from the XI who played in South Africa's last T20I - against England at Old Trafford last month - are Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Bjorn Fortuin and Lizaad Williams. Kwena Maphaka would have been another, but he has tweaked a hamstring.

Possible XI: Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Jason Smith, Rubin Hermann, Donovan Ferreira (capt), Andile Simelane, Bjorn Fortuin, Lizaad Williams, Gerald Coetzee, Ottneil Baartman.

What they said:

"It's a massive day for us. We've spent years building cricket in Namibia and it culminates in a moment like this." - Gerhard Erasmus is ready to move into the game's new home in his country.

"It's an honour to be here, to be part of an iconic moment of history for cricket in Namibia." - Donovan Ferreira shows his good manners.