Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Ireland Wolves wrapped up their Namibian tour with a 22-run victory in their final 50-over match on Tuesday, to tie the series at 2-2, after Namibia A had earlier won the T20 series 2-1.
Despite losing their final match, the Richelieu Eagles coach Pierre de Bruyn said the tour had served its purpose.
“The outcome wasn’t really my focus; I wanted to see how the guys perform under pressure and how they implement their skills and I got those answers.
There’s a lot of cricket these guys have played, seven or eight games in one series, so there’s a lot of information that I need to take on board. I specifically wanted to give young players or fringe players more opportunities, which I’ve done and I’ve got that information about where the players are,” he said.
“Losing is not nice, and today we came second, but I think it’s not because we were outplayed, I just thought our bowling at the death was well below par and we again had our batting woes of the top three or four not taking full responsibility. It’s not a matter of these guys not training, it’s just that we need to learn these lessons and we need to get better,” he added.
In Tuesday’s match, all-rounder Gareth Delaney starred with both bat and ball to win set up Ireland A’s victory.
Ireland A were struggling at 77 for four wickets when he entered the field, but he turned their fortunes around with a great century, which saw the visitors reaching 252/7 off their 50 overs.
Delaney was eventually dismissed for 104 off 91 balls (4×4, 8×6), while the next best contributors were Stephen Doheny with 36 and Jeremy Lawlor with 30.
For Namibia, Jan Frylinck took three wickets for 50 runs and Ben Shikongo 3/85.
Namibia’s top order batsmen once again failed to deliver, as they crashed to 112 for seven wickets, but Ruben Trumpelmann and Dylan Leicher revived their hopes with a century eighth-wicket partnership.
Namibia’s hopes, however, faded when they were dismissed in quick succession, with Trumpelmann going for 67 off 60 balls (7×4, 2×6) and Leicher 46 off 76 balls (1×4), before Namibia were all out for 230 runs.
Delaney was Ireland’s standout bowler, taking 5/39 off 10 overs, while Josh Manley took 2/50 and Fionn Hand 2/56.
Ireland Wolves coach Pete Johnson said it was a great match and series as a whole.
“I thought it was a great game of cricket, we corrected the mistakes of the last game and set a good total batting first. We did very well with the ball for a period and then Namibia got back into the game and we were really challenged at the death, so I think it was a brilliant game of cricket and a great series as a whole. It swung back and forth all the time, so it was very competitive and there were a lot of valuable lessons to take for both sides,” he said.
The Richelieu Eagles now turn their attention to Uganda who have arrived for a three-match T20 and two-match 50-over series, starting at the United field tomorrow.
De Bruyn said he was looking forward to the tour.
“There’s a lot of cricket ahead this year and I’m looking forward to the Ugandan tour which will offer more opportunities for our players to improve and to perform,” he said.
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