Russell Alexander Hugh Pitchers (born 20 February 1994) is a

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who made his senior debut for the Namibian national side in March 2013, aged 19. Born in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, Pitchers attended the city's Hoërskool Noord-Kaap (Northern Cape High School), playing cricket for the school team. He played several seasons for underage

Griqualand West Griqualand West is an area of central South Africa with an area of 40,000 km2 that now forms part of the Northern Cape Province. It was inhabited by the Griqua people – a semi-nomadic, Afrikaans-speaking nation of mixed-race origin, w ...

teams, and made his debut for the Griqualand West under-19s in October 2010, at the age of 16. Pitchers, a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, later moved to Namibia, going on to qualify for the Namibian national under-19 side. He was named in the Namibian squad for the 2012 Under-19 World Cup, but played in only two warm-up matches, against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

.Miscellaneous Matches played by Xander Pitchers (45)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 8 February 2015. Pitchers' final matches for a South African domestic side came in December 2012, when he played in a third consecutive national under-19 championships for Griqualand West. In March 2013, he made his first-class debut for the Namibian senior side in the South African Three-Day Provincial Competition.First-Class Matches played by Xander Pitchers (23)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 8 February 2015. On debut against

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

, he opened the batting with

Pikky Ya France Helao Nafidi Ya France (born 23 April 1990) is a Namibian cricketer. Known by his nickname Pikky, Ya France is a right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm slow. He was born in Windhoek, Khomas Region. Career 2008-2011: Debut Having played for t ...

, scoring a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

in the first innings and six runs in the second innings as Namibia lost by an innings and 114 runs within two days. In the following match, against South Western Districts, Pitchers scored a maiden first-class century, 114 runs from 228 balls. For the Namibian under-19s, Pitchers was the leading runscorer at the 2013 Africa Under-19 Championship in Uganda, with 228 runs from three innings. Against

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, he was the top scorer with 161 from 143 balls, helping Namibia to a 244-run win. Namibia won the final against

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

to qualify for the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Pitchers made his under-19

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) debut at the World Cup, and scored 131 runs from four matches, behind only Gerhard Erasmus for Namibia. His highest score came against

, 78 runs from 116 balls. Outside of his under-19 appearances, Smit has become a regular for the Namibian senior side in both South African domestic tournaments and international competitions, featuring at the 2013 Intercontinental Cup, the 2013 WCL Championship, and the 2014 World Cup Qualifier.List A matches played by Xander Pitchers (16)
– CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 February 2015. A second first-class century, 118 from 266 balls, came against KwaZulu-Natal Inland in the 2013–14 South African season. In May 2015, against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in Namibia's first Intercontinental Cup fixture of the 2015–17 cycle, Pitchers scored a maiden international century in the second innings, 105* opening with

Stephan Baard Stephan Julian Baard (born 29 April 1992) is a Namibian cricketer, who has played for the national cricket team. Career In November 2016, he won the Player's Player of the Year award at Cricket Namibia's annual awards ceremony. In January 20 ...

.(13 May 2015)
"Namibia run away with 114-run victory"
– ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 May 2015.

References

External links

a
Cricket Archive
a
ESPNcricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitchers, Xander 1994 births Living people Namibian cricketers Cricketers from Kimberley, Northern Cape South African cricketers South African emigrants to Namibia