The agony continues for Kenyan cricket fans as Namibia are the African qualifiers to next year's Under 19 World Cup in Malaysia after they beat Kenya by 39 runs in the final of the regional qualifiers in Benoni, South Africa.

Namibia were put in to bat by Kenya and immediately set about building a big total. Raymond Van Schoor and Sean Silver, easily the standout batsman of the tournament, put on 50 for the first wicket before Pritesh Lalji was able to induce a snick for Van Schoor to be caught behind. Tiaan Louw was run out for a duck not long after, but he was one of only two Namibian batsmen not to get a start. Of those, three carried on to hit decent scores and when Kenya look back on this match, that will stand out as the main difference between the sides. Silver went on to top score for his side with 70, but found capable support in Dawid Botha (50) and Louis Van Der Westhuizen (40). Some lusty hitting in the final overs from Keady Strauss and Morne Engelbrecht took the score to 256 for the loss of 7 wickets and Kenya knew they were going to be in for a battle.

Kenya's run chase got off to a bad start when Munsuk Jesani was run out for 1 with the score still in single figures. Fellow opener, Samarth Patel did his best to provide solidity at the other end, but found little support from the rest of the top and middle order. Some hope did come during the 5th wicket partnership of 76 as Rakep Patel stayed around long enough to make Kenya's second highest score for the match, a mere 29. Other than Samarth Patel, who finally succumbed to lack of partners and went for a battling 92, the only other Kenyan batsman to get into double figures were Sagar Karia who made 18 and Peter Kituku who made 14. Pick of the Namibian bowlers was Elandre Oosthuizen who dominated with the ball to pick up 5/35 including the prize wicket of Samarth Patel.

Once their celebrations are over, Namibia can now concentrate on getting ready for the World Cup proper in Malaysia early next year. For Kenya, it is back to the drawing board and once again questions will be asked of Cricket Kenya as to the absence of a domestic structure that brings through the country's best young cricketers. Kenya's team will return home disappointed not to have qualified for the World Cup, but in the end they were beaten by a deserving team that grew stronger with each game they played in the tournament. They will have learned a valuable lesson from this and with the right support from the administration, many of them should go on to provide Kenya with a good senior team in the future.