Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Namibian Eagles will be out to continue their winning streak when they take on Oman in a T20 warmup match in Dubai today.
The Eagles have been in great form and are still unbeaten after beating Papua New Guinea twice and Scotland in warmup matches over the past week. On 6 October they thrashed PNG by 84 runs after posting a huge total of 249/3 off their 20 overs, but on Sunday PNG offered stiffer resistance before Namibia won the match by 14 runs.
In Namibia’s innings Stephan Baard was dismissed early for eight runs, but Zane Green and Craig Williams stabilised the innings with a 47-run partnership.
Green was dismissed for 26 off 24 balls, and Gerhard Erasmus for a golden duck, and when David Wiese was out for 10, Namibia were reduced to 67 for four wickets.
JJ Smit, however, joined Williams to revive the innings with an 83-run partnership at nearly 10 an over, before Williams was dismissed for 57 off 43 balls (2×6, 3×4).
Smit went on to score 48 off 34 (2×6, 3×4) as Namibia reached a competitive 174/6 off their 20 overs. For PNG, Assad Vala took 2/10 and Nosaina Pokana 2/38.
In PNG’s innings, Bernard Scholtz dismissed Vala for one, but Tony Ura and Charles Amini led their recovery with a 69-run partnership before Ben Shikongo bowled Amini for 25.
Ura went on to score 69 off 43 balls (4×6, 3×4), while Simon Atai added 28 not out, but Namibia kept them in check with regular wickets, as they could only reach 160/6, still 14 runs short of the target.
JJ Smit was Namibia’s best bowler, taking 2/24. On Saturday, Namibia comfortably beat Scotland by five wickets, although they made it a bit difficult for themselves in the end.
They did well to restrict Scotland to 137/8 off their 20 overs and then seemed on course for an easy victory, but Scotland struck back with a few wickets, before Namibia reached 138/5 with 14 balls in hand.
After sending Scotland in to bat, Ruben Trumpelmann made the breakthrough, dismissing Kyle Coetzer (17) and Matthew Cross (0) off successive balls, and when JJ Smit bowled George Munsey for 17, Scotland had slumped to 21/3.
Richie Berrington and Craig Wallace led their revival with a 48-run fourth wicket partnership, before Bernard Scholtz dismissed the latter for 23. Berrington continued to attack the bowling but he received little support as Namibia kept up the pressure with regular wickets.
Berrington was eventually bowled by David Wiese for 61 off 46 balls (2×6, 4×4) as Scotland reached 137/8. For Namibia, Trumpelmann took 2/23, Jan Frylinck 2/24 and Wiese 2/38.
In Namibia’s innings, Zane Green was bowled for a golden duck by Josh Davey, but Craig Williams and Stephan Baard put Namibia in charge with a great partnership, putting on 93 runs at about 10 an over.
Williams was dismissed for 50 off 37 balls ((2×6, 7×4), and when Mark Watt dismissed Gerhard Erasmus (11) and Wiese (0) within three balls, Namibia’s total stood at 110 for four wickets down.
Michael Leask dismissed Baard for 39 off 41 balls (2×6, 2×4) to give Scotland a glimmer of hope with the total at 120/5, but JJ Smit took Namibia to victory, scoring 20 not out off 17 balls (1×6, 1×4). Watt was Scotland’s best bowler, taking 2/11 off four overs.
