Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibian Eagles’ task to make the final Cricket World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe suffered a blow when they suffered an 80-run defeat to the United States on Sunday.
The USA scored 231/9 off their 50 overs, but after a promising middle-order revival, a batting collapse saw Namibia all out for 151.
Eagles coach Pierre de Bruyn, however, was not too perturbed, saying that they still held destiny in their own hands.
“There’s a lot of cricket coming up and we’ve got four games left and I think everyone is going to beat everyone else in this tournament, I can see the competition is going to be very strong. But we’ve still got our destiny in our own hands to get a ticket to Zimbabwe and we’ve got two days to reassess and to prepare for the double-header on Wednesday (against PNG) and Thursday (against Jersey),” he said.
After winning the toss and sending USA in to bat, Ben Shikongo gave Namibia a great start when he snapped up two wickets in the second over to leave the USA reeling at 2/5.
The USA made a hesitant revival with Sushant Modani scoring 17 and Aaron Jones 36, but when Ruben Trumpelmann dismissed Shayan Jahangir (5) and Nisarg Patel (3) the momentum shifted to Namibia with the USA total at 105/6 halfway through their innings.
Namibia, however, let the USA off the hook as their lower-order clawed their way back into the game.
Gajanand Singh led the revival with 53 runs from 63 balls, while Jessy Singh added 33 and Nosthush Kenjige 43 as the USD reached a competitive 231/9.
Shikongo with 3/59 off 10 overs and Shaun Fouche with 3/46 off 10 were Namibia’s best bowlers.
In reply, new cap Niko Davin (1) and Michael van Lingen (0) were both dismissed cheaply, but Gerhard Erasmus and Shaun Fouche rebuilt the innings with a patient 54-run partnership.
Erasmus was dismissed for 22, but Fouche and Nicol Loftie-Eaton gave Namibia hope with a 62-run fourth wicket partnership.
Loftie-Eaton’s dismissal for 38 off 44 balls, however, sparked a batting collapse as Namibia lost their next six wickets for only 23 runs. Fouche was dismissed for a top score of 55, but the only other batsman to reach double figures was Pikky Ya France with 14 not out as Namibia crashed to 151 all out.
The USA’s top bowlers were Ali Khan with 3/21 off seven overs, and Nisarg Patel with 3/29 off nine overs.
De Bruyn said they did not make use of their chances.
“It was not an ideal start – we were in the game for 90% of the day, but we missed some big moments especially at the back-end with the ball when they were six wickets down for 105, but we didn’t capitalise and we didn’t bowl well at the death,” De Bruyn said.
“With the bat we lost those two early wickets but Gerhard Erasmus and Shaun Fouche they did very well to get us back in the game, buying a bit of time and building a foundation,” he added.
De Bruyn however said they let the game slip.
“I thought our game management was not good enough, and the tempo at times was not good enough. I really enjoyed the way Nicol Loftie-Eaton played, I think that’s the intent that the batters must look at to play, its positive cricket, but it doesn’t have to be high risk. Shaun Fouche showed a lot of grit up front, but when you lose six wickets for 20 runs it’s not ideal and it’s not our brand of cricket. We will have to address it but I know the guys will – it will definitely hurt but they work hard and they will bounce back,” he said.
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