Oman vs. Namibia: An Impactful Faceoff Between the Two Teams

Oman and Namibia have played a decent amount of cricket in the UAE conditions, making them top contenders of breaking it into the list of elite 12 cricketing nations. Oman is certainly leading the charts with 16 wins in 26 games and is likely to qualify for the upcoming World Cup 2023, which is scheduled to be held in India. Talking about Oman, they have a sensational fan base here in the UAE, as thousands of supporters of Oman flock into stadiums, chanting slogans for their team. On the other hand, there is Namibia, you haven’t got the start they dreamt of, but still, these are early days for them as a full-fledged cricketing unit. Namibia stands 5th in the points table with 6 wins in 11 matches played so far in the league. The upcoming clash is likely to favor Oman as they would be the home favorites, looking to extend their dominance on the points table.

There’s no doubt that Oman can dominate the visitors at home. Namibia has a decent batting and bowling lineup, which can play positive cricket against Oman and produce a thrilling encounter. In their last game against UAE, Oman set a reasonably par score of 221 in their 50 overs batting first. Then their bowlers restricted the opposition to 213, managing to win the game in style. For the game against Namibia, Oman would likely be playing a regular lineup, focusing more on spinners, as the Sharjah wicket offers much pace and bounce of the off-spinners.

• Shoaib Khan;
• Khurram Nawaz;
• Kaleemullah;
• Bilal Khan;
• Ayan Khan.

Over the past few years, Namibia has also come together as a cricketing unit, depending mostly upon their aged senior players and young rookies. In their last game against UAE, they were restricted to 205 runs for the fall of 8 wickets. UAE batsman had no such difficulties in chasing down the target without giving away free wickets to the Namibian bowlers. For the upcoming game against Oman, Namibia has to produce something more than extraordinary to win and get itself a decent standing on the points table. With the likes of Wiese and Trumpelmann, Namibia can certainly apply pressure on Oman in all sorts of departments of the game.

• JJ Smit;
• Gerhard Erasmus;
• David Wiese;
• Ruben Trumpelmann;
• Stephan Baard.

Considering the points table standings and winning streak of Oman, Oman is likely to win the upcoming encounter and rattle the Namibian lineup with a quality spin bowling attack. However, Namibia can also trick Oman batsmen if they are able to pick early wickets inside the first 15 overs.