Namibia beat Ireland by 8 wickets in a comprehensive win. Namibian bowling put up the best performance of the tournament and restricted Irish men to a mere 125. The top-order survived the early accuracy of Irish bowlers and came through in a well-thought-out chase. Namibia has only qualified for the Super 12s through this remarkable win.
Early storm: Survived!
Paul Stirling got off to a flyer as Ireland compiled 55 runs in the Powerplay. However, once he fell, the innings fell to tatters. Spinner Bernard Scholtz had his wicket at the score of 62 but Paul did a fair bit of damage, making 38 runs in 24 balls. Kevin O’Brien also fell after eight deliveries to Frylinck and the Irish middle-order reeled under pressure.
Except for Andy Balbirnie’s 21 runs and O’Brien’s 23 runs, the rest of the following batters couldn’t get even past single-digits and the Ireland outfit lost six wickets for a mere 27 runs. Jan Frylinck produced his best effort of the tournament and extracted three wickets for 21 runs.
David Wiese did the damage with his change-up deliveries, claiming two for 22, Scholtz had one for 25 in three overs while JJ Smit took one for 27 in four overs. Returnee Pikky Ya France kept it tight and gave just 11 runs in two overs. Meanwhile, Truppelman gave just 18 runs in three overs.
Take it slow, take it steady
Namibians batted slowly, scoring just 27 runs in the Powerplay, and lost the wicket of Craig Williams, who made 15. However, Zane Green and captain Gerhard Erasmus kept their cool and didn’t panic. The situation went from bad to worse for Ireland when Mark Adair hurt himself during his second over.
The duo of Gerhard and Zane added 48 runs for the third wicket in 49 deliveries. Zane Green fell to Campher, who took both the Namibian wickets. This wicket only brought more problems for Irish men as last game’s hero David Wiese set-up a 28 runs carnage off just 14 balls, hitting two sixes. Gerhard Erasmus also played some pleasant-looking shots and finished as the highest scorer of the match with 53 runs off 49 balls. For Ireland, only Curtis Campher did some damage, taking two wickets for 14 runs in three overs. Now Sri Lanka, Namibia, Bangladesh, and Scotland have advanced to the Super 12s.
