"Excuse me ..." The woman seemed at a loss. She had just walked through the gate to Windhoek's High Performance Oval (HPO) on Thursday to watch West Indies play Tanzania in the men's under-19 World Cup, and something was missing.

So she consulted one of the small army of lanyard-wearing, official-looking people who outnumbered fans. The bright-eyed lanyarder leapt forward: "Yes?"

The woman asked, "Do I have to bring my own chair?"

The question hung in the warm midmorning air for a long moment. Its answer was in the emptiness almost all the way around the boundary, parts of which were populated by smatterings of spectators sheltering, under gazebos, from the sun glowering through gathering clouds. They had indeed brought their own camping chairs.

It was either that or sit on earth still damp and steamy from Wednesday night's rain. The woman, smartly dressed all in black, high-heeled, bejewelled and coiffed, was not equipped for this eventuality. She stared at the lanyarder, who stared back at her and said, "Umm ..."

The HPO is a fine place to play and watch cricket. The pitch for Thursday's match was willing and the outfield fast despite the rain. Everything necessary to the successful staging of a match is there, and what isn't there isn't important.

The ground is ringed by tall trees and, beyond them, the stubbled green hills that mean the nearest piece of flat land large enough to accommodate Hosea Kutako International Airport is at least a 40-minute drive out of town. Nothing else in Windhoek - which has a surface area of only 5.13 square kilometres, more than 117 times smaller than Mumbai's - is nearly 40 minutes away.

What the HPO isn't is a stadium. As in fitted with seats and bleachers. They're next door at the comparatively grand new Namibia Cricket Ground, that will share 16 fixtures in the tournament - which is also being played in Zimbabwe - with the HPO. The first game at the neighbouring ground is on Friday between Australia and Ireland. Simultaneously, South Africa will play Afghanistan at the HPO.

The matches Namibia will host, four of them during the Super Sixes, will serve as a measure of the country's readiness to take its place in the 2027 men's World Cup alongside South Africa and Zimbabwe.

On Thursday's evidence, they're doing just fine. Bar a few technical issues out of sight and mind of most spectators and viewers, things happened as planned. Certainly, the travelling parents of players in both teams enjoyed themselves.

The Tanzanians among them saw their boys avoid a repeat of the top order disaster that reduced them to 21/6 chasing 198 to beat the Irish at another Windhoek ground, the Wanderers, on Tuesday. On Thursday Tanzania made it all the way into the 14th over without losing a wicket. Then they lost all 10 for 69 and were bowled out for 122.

On Tuesday they climbed out of a deep dark hole to win by one wicket thanks to the 124 runs scored by their Nos. 8, 9 and 10 - Simba Mbaki, Abdulazak Mohamedi and Acrey Hugo. No such miracle was repeated on Thursday, when the Windies reached the 20th over of their reply needing a dozen runs to win with six wickets in hand.

That prompted a call from their fans: "Almost there, almost there ..."

And a response from their Tanzanian counterparts: "One more wicket, one more wicket ..."

And a West Indian response to the response: "No more wickets, no more wickets ..."

With 12 still required, wrist spinner Raymond Francis trapped Joshua Dorne and Jonathan van Lange in front in the space of four deliveries. But there was no further drama and West Indies were home seven balls later with Shaquan Belle and Shamar Apple hitting seamer Khalidy Juma for two fours in three balls.

With that, camping chairs were dutifully folded and tucked under the arms of departing spectators to be packed away for another day. Maybe, the next time a visit to the HPO is planned, everyone will know to bring their own.