Africa-Press – Namibia. OMAN beat Namibia by 9 runs to level their Tri-Nations series at 1-1 ahead of the cancellation of the series after a new variant of the coronavirus was discovered.
With fortunes swaying to and fro throughout the match, Oman eventually prevailed after scoring 291 for nine wickets and then restricting Namibia to 282/9.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Oman lost the wicket of Jatinder Singh early on, bowled by Ruben Trumpelmann for 5, but the rest of their top order made solid contributions as they piled on the runs.
Aqib Ilyas scored 43 and Kashyap Prajapati 52, and when Mohammad Nadeem was dismissed by Trumpelmann for 24, they were well set at 184 with 17 overs to go.
Zeeshan Maqsood and Sandeep Goud each also scored 24, but Ayaan Khan was the main contributor, scoring 83 off 93 balls (3×4, 2×6) before becoming another Trumpelmann victim.
Further down the order Nestor Dhumba added 11 as Oman reached a competitive 291/9 off their 50 overs. Trumpelmann stood out amongst Namibia’s bowlers, taking 5/76 off 10 overs, while JJ Smit took 2/50.
In reply, Namibia lost Stephen Baard early for 4, while Michael van Lingen was dismissed for 17, but Zane Green and Craig Williams put them back on track with a 43-run partnership before Green was dismissed for 47 off 52 balls (5×4).
Williams soon followed for 38, and when Nicol Loftie Eaton was out for 16, they still had a long way to go at 132/5 with just under half their overs remaining. JJ Smit however revived the innings with a great knock as Namibia gradually grew closer to the target.
He put on 41 runs for the sixth wicket with Ruben Trumpelmann (13) and 60 for the seventh wicket with Jan Frylinck (23) to revive Namibia’s hopes, and with three overs remaining they were right back in contention, needing 17 runs for victory.
Karl Birkenstock, however, was dismissed for 6, and when Smit was caught on the boundary for a fine 94 off only 72 balls (5×4, 6×6), Namibia’s hopes were dashed, as they eventually fell nine runs short of the target. Zeeshan Maqsood was Oman’s best bowler, taking 3/45 off 8 overs, while Mohammad Nadeem took 2/36 and Bilal Khan 2/65.
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