Namibia claimed a six-wicket win over the Netherlands with an over to spare. The Netherlands put up an above-average score of 164 while batting first and a middle-innings charge by David Wiese carried the Namibians to a huge win. Namibia is back in the hunt for a Super 12s spot after this remarkable win in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Max O’ Dowd once again played a superb knock and made 70 runs off 56 balls. The Netherlands lost Stephen Myburgh and Roelof van der Merwe by the score of 57 as the move to push Merwe up the order failed. Colin Ackermann and Max O’Dowd pinned an 82 runs partnership and once both the batters fell, Scott Edwards’ late 11-ball 21 runs rocketed the Dutch team to 164.
When David Wiese arrived on the pitch, Namibia needed 114 runs in just 11.4 overs, and with three batters back in the dugout. However, he and captain Gerhard Erasmus started to find the boundary rope and Wiese took over the game with around 8-9 overs left. Erasmus and Wiese made sure Namibia close the gap and once Erasmus fell at 145, after a ninety-run partnership, the team needed just 21 runs with 19 balls to go.
The Namibians sealed the deal on twin boundaries by JJ Smit with six balls to go. Wiese’s unbeaten knock of 66 runs in 40 balls surely catapulted the team to win, and Erasmus’s 22-ball 32 runs knock also played a huge role. For the Netherlands, Fred Klassen returned stunning figures of 14 runs in four overs, also taking a wicket. Skipper Pieter Seelaar grabbed a wicket, going for only eight runs in two overs, but the rest of the bowling got a taste of Wiese’s power hitting.