No Loftie-Eaton in Namibia squad for 2024 T20 World Cup

Gerhard Erasmus will lead Namibia in the 2024 T20 World Cup, but will not have T20Is fastest centurion Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton in the 16-member squad for the tournament in the Caribbean and the USA in June.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Loftie-Eaton is currently the subject of disciplinary proceedings in Namibia. Cricket Namibia said they "cannot comment before the matter is resolved".

Loftie-Eaton, against Nepal in February, set a new record for the fastest T20I century, bringing up the landmark in just 33 balls. He was Namibia's captain in the African Games in Ghana in March, but was sent back before their semi-final match for a transgression, details of which weren't made public.

This is not the first time Loftie-Eaton has found himself in trouble. He was also cautioned in 2018, and spent some time out of the game then, following an incident - details of that have not been made public yet.

Another notable exclusion was experienced allrounder Pikky Ya France, who has been involved with the national team since 2011 and was part of the squad that made it out of the first round at the 2021 T20 World Cup - Namibia's best result at the highest level.

However, Namibia have included nine players who were part of that outfit, headlined by South Africa-born allrounder and T20 specialist David Wiese, who has experience in leagues around the world, and left-arm quick Ruben Trumpelmann.

Medium-pacer Jack Brassell, who was part of Namibia's Under-19 World Cup squad that played in South Africa earlier this year and has played seven T20Is, has also been named. Brassell was Namibia's joint-leading bowler at the tournament with six wickets at an average of 15.66. Namibia will rely heavily on pace with Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni and Dylan Leicher all in the squad.

While the ICC needs teams to name 15-player squads, Namibia have named 16 players, citing the need for a bigger player base for the four warm-up fixtures in the West Indies before the start of the tournament. They have until May 25 to drop one player from the 16.

Namibia are in Group B with Australia, England, Scotland and Oman at the T20 World Cup, and have recent experience against the last of those. They played Oman in five T20Is in Al-Almerat in April and won the series 3-2, after being 2-1 down.

Namibia squad for 2024 T20 World Cup

Gerhard Erasmus (capt), Zane Green, Michael Van Lingen, Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Jack Brassell, Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni, Niko Davin, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, JP Kotze, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, Malan Kruger, PD Blignaut