Posted by Game 7 of the T20 World Cup, Namibia were up agaisnt Netherland, both sides lost their opening games and are desperate for a win. Namibia did well to restrict Netherland to a good total and then a fantastic batting display saw them bag a win to remain in contention.
Namibia won the toss and opt to bowl first. NAMIBIA’S XI : Stephan Baard, Zane Green (wk), Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus (C), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Michael van Lingen, Jan Frylinck, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz.
NETHERLAND’S XI : Max ODowd, S Myburgh, Bas de Leede, Colin Ackermann, Ryan ten Doeschate, Scott Edwards (wk), Roelof van der Merwe, Pieter Seelaar (C), Logan van Beek, Timm van der Gugten, Fred Klaassen.
Netherland saw a good start as they capitalised on the powerplay overs and bagged a few big over early. Max with the responsibility of attacking and Myburgh with strike rotation. Frylinck was into the attack and created an opportunity but Myburgh was given a life as the catch at mid wicket went down and failed to make the most of it as Frylinck in his 2nd over striked the wicket and Myburgh on 17(16) made his way back. Netherland finsihed powerplay on 45-1. Wasn’t much from der Merwe as on 6(4) he made his way back. Wickets lead to a dip in run rate and Netherland were 69-2 at halfway stage. Max did slow down a bit with fall of wickets, Ackermann on the other end did take a bit of time to settle in and this was hurting Netherland. The 14th over saw Max get to his back-to-back fifites and also the 100 was on board for Netherland. The duo switched gares and accelerated their dangerous looking partnership that did see a few good looking shots and maximums before Frylinck striked Ackermann on 35(32) and the 82(62) run stand saw curtains. Intentful small partnership between Edwards and Max before the latter was ran out on 70(56), had survived a couple run out opportunities earlier but this time he’s ran out of luck. Scott Edwards handy little cameo of 22(11) saw Netherland post a good 164 on board, they got to the par score.
Namibia were decent with the ball, had one bolwer had a special day they could have restricted Netherland to maybe a 10-15 short. Spinner, Bernard Scholtz did go for a bit of runs in his 4. Pacers; David Wiese, Ruben, Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit bowled their complete kota of 4 with David Wiese and Jan Frylinck being the successful bowlers having bagged a wicket and two respectively.
Namibia in reply had a decent start, Baard and Green put up an intentful opening stand. Green was the attacker and Baard slowly joined the party as he smashed a few to the boundary. The 34 run opening partnership saw curtains with Green walk back on 15(12) off Fred Klaassen bowling and Namibia finsihed their powerplay with 41-1 on board. Ackermann was into the attack, bowling his second over bagged a wicket straightaway as Craig Williams on 11(13) walked back. Pieter Seelaar was introduced into the attack and started with a maiden over wicket as Baard on 19(20) made his way back. With two new batters in Namibia at halfway were 68-3. David Wiese looked on song as he straightaway got in action and launched a few maximums to not let Netherland build pressure while Erasmus on the other end did well to rotate strike. Namibia soon were dealing in boundaries and maximums, David Wiese got to his half century of just 29 balls and Erasmus too followed Wiese and smashed a few boundaries before being dismissed on 32(22) and the 93 run fiery partnership saw curtains. JJ Smit joined a set aggresive Wiese and finished the game, wasn’t a lot to get and Smit smashed couple boundaries to seal the win for Namibia in style. With an over left Namibia got to the required 165, JJ Smit on 14(8) and David Wiese on 66(40) remained unbeaten and hand Namibia their first win in World Cups.
Netherland were poor with the ball and despite being in a good position let momentum shift and couldn’t find a way back in the game. Fred Klaassen in his 4 and Pieter Seelaar in his 2 were both economical with a wicket each and economy of 3.5 and 4 respectively. Colin Ackermann and Timm van der Gugten both bagged a wicket each but were very expensive on display. Logan in his 4, Roelof in his 2 and Bas de Leede in his 1 were expensive on display and didn’t feature in the wickets column.
Netherland with the defeat are eliminated and have been disappointing, a good collective bowling effort could have helped them bag a win but couldn’t handel the fiery partnership pressure and failed to stage a comeback. Namibia despite losing a couple wickets in quick succession didn’t let Netherland stage a comeback and the middle order batters got Namibia home with an over to play. Namibia with the win are in contention and the win will help their nerves ease and will now eye a spot in the super 12.
Bureau of sports 