Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibian Eagles bounced back from their opening day defeat to the USA, with successive victories against PNG and Jersey in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifying Playoff tournament in Windhoek.
On Wednesday they beat PNG by 48 runs at the United field, while they thumped Jersey by eight wickets at the Wanderers field on Thursday, to revive their hopes of progressing to the final World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe in June.
With the USA beating UAE by five wickets at the United field on Thursday,
Namibia went second behind Canada on the log to strengthen their chances of finishing amongst the top two teams that will book a ticket to Zimbabwe.
At the Wanderers field Namibia romped to an eight-wicket victory after a great partnership between Michael van Lingen and Gerhard Erasmus.
Namibia restricted Jersey to 213/9 and then comfortably reached the target for the loss of two wickets with 18 overs to spare.
Jersey won the toss and elected to bat but they got off to a sluggish start, losing their first three wickets with only 32 runs on the board.
Josh Lawrenson and Jonty Jenner revived their fortunes with an 80-run fourth wicket partnership.
Ben Shikongo got the breakthrough, bowling Lawrenson for 42, and when Bernard Scholtz bowled Asa Tribe for 3, and Erasmus dismissed Dominic Blampied for 7, the momentum was back with Namibia.
Jenner however gave Jersey hope with a fine knock but he was eventually bowled by Karl Birkenstock for 76 which came off 96 balls.
Further down the order, Julius Sumerauer added 28 off 30 balls, but there was not much more support as their batsmen struggled to get going against a disciplined Namibian bowling attack, with Shikongo (3/42) and Ruben Trumpelmann (3/24) taking three wickets each.
In Namibia’s innings, Shaun Fouche (0) and Niko Davin (10) were dismissed early on, but Van Lingen and Erasmus gradually put them in charge with an unbeaten 198-run partnership.
Van Lingen went on to reach his century and eventually scored 110 not out, which came off 93 balls (11×4, 4×6), while Erasmus remained on 88 not out off 93 balls (11×4, 4×6).
That was Erasmus’ second great knock after he scored a sublime 125 in Namibia’s 48-run victory against PNG on Wednesday.
In a high-scoring match, Namibia scored 381/8 off their 50 overs and then dismissed PNG for 333 to complete a comprehensive victory.
Erasmus was the star of the show, shining with both bat and ball while he also gave a great fielding display.
In Namibia’s innings, Fouche (0) and Van Lingen (1) were dismissed early on, but Erasmus and Niko Davin put Namibia in charge with a 151-run partnership.
Davin was unfortunate to miss his century as he was dismissed for 90 off 79 balls (13×4, 1×6), but Erasmus reached his, before being dismissed for 125 off 113 balls (11×4, 5×6).
There were also good contributions from Nicol Loftie-Eaton (61 off 59 balls) and Zane Green (33 off 17) as Namibia racked up their highest One Day International total of 381/8.
PNG gave a valiant run chase, led by Charles Amini with 109 off 75 balls (8×4, 8×6), while Kiplin Doriga added 47, Sese Bau 54 and Assad Vala 57, but they ran out of wickets and were eventually all out for 333.
Namibia’s top bowlers were Trumpelmann with 3/63 and Bernard Scholtz with 3/67.
Namibia’s next match is against UAE at the United field on Sunday.
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