Namibia vs UAE Prediction: Namibia comes in as the favorite

Namibia suffered a heartbroken loss against the Netherlands in the last game. Batting first, Namibians lost three wickets for just 32 runs. Jan Frylinck played one of the strangest innings, scoring 43 runs but taking 48 balls as the Namibian team saw a dwindled run-rate for most parts. However, his innings also avoided a collapse. With the lack of contributions that were flowing at a high strike rate, Namibia crawled to a total of 121 for 6.

Bowling-wise, Jan Frylinck made up for his slowish innings with two wickets for 16 runs. JJ Smit did his bit too, picking up two wickets for 24 runs. His spin bowling partner Bernard Scholtz was also in a miserly mood, giving just 21 runs and picking up a wicket. Gerhard Erasmus was also tight, giving just 13 runs in three overs. David Wiese gave up 22 runs in two and a half overs whereas Ben Shikongo’s only over went for 18 runs, which played a pivotal role in the game.

UAE stood no chance against Sri Lanka, losing by a big margin of 79 runs. After Sri Lankans blazed away 92 runs in 11.1 overs, it looked like a 170-180 total is in sight. However, Karthik Meiyappan made history after claiming a hat-trick, nabbing wickets of Asalanka, Rajapaksa, and Dasun Shanaka. Thus, the run-rate was curbed and thanks to 74 runs innings by Pathum Nissanka, Sri Lanka reached a total of 152 for eight wickets.

But the batting stood no chance. Mohammad Waseem, the most in-form player and who made 40-odd runs in the opening game, was cleaned bowled by speedster Chamira for just two runs. And soon, a procession followed as the team lost 10 wickets for just 58 runs. No player reached 20 runs but Ayaan Afzal Khan and Junaid Siddique combined for 37 runs to avoid a below 50 runs finish. It was clear that the UAE batting had no answer for the Sri Lankan bowling.

• Batters: Stephan Baard, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Mohammad Waseem;
• Bowlers: Zahoor Khan, Kartik Meiyappan, Bernard Scholtz, JJ Smit, Gerhard Erasmus.

UAE’s batting looks outmatched at this level as they are yet to score even 120. Batting hasn’t been easy in Geelong and both pacers and spinners have found fair share of the purchase. The Namibians have more heavy-hitting batters while UAE has seen multiple batters go in their shell lately, with the exception of Mohammad Waseem. The bowling looks strong for both teams but Namibia seems to have slight edge here too. I’d back the Namibians to win this one.