Blog

NAMIBIA’s hopes of reaching the Super 12s stage of the T20 World Cup suffered a setback after a five-wicket defeat to the Netherlands at Geelong yesterday.

In a low-scoring match Namibia were restricted to 121 for six wickets off their 20 overs, while the Netherlands edged home in a tight finish, scoring 122/5 with three balls to spare.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Namibia got off to a poor start as Divan La Cock was dismissed for a second ball duck, and when Michael van Lingen (20) and Nicol Loftie-Eaton (0) were dismissed in quick succession they were three wickets down for 32 off 5,2 overs.

For the second match in a row Jan Frylinck revived the innings with a fine knock, putting on 31 runs for the fourth wicket with Stephan Baard before the latter was out for 19, caught at deep square leg trying a slog sweep.

Gerhard Erasmus joined Frylinck and gave Namibia hope with a 41-run partnership, but the going was slow on a difficult pitch.

Bas de Leede dismissed both batsmen within three balls in the 19th over, with Frylinck going for 43 off 48 balls, while Erasmus was bowled for 16 off 18, before David Wiese (11 not out) and JJ Smit (5 not out) added a late flurry to take the total to 121/6.

De Leede was the Netherlands’ top bowler with two wickets for 18 runs.

The total looked a bit shaky and it was soon underlined as the Dutch top order put their team in charge.

Vikramjit Singh hit successive fours off Wiese, and successive sixes off Ben Shikongo, as the Netherlands raced to 58/0 off eight overs, before Bernard Scholtz dismissed Singh for 39 off 31 balls.

Max O’Dowd added a run-a-ball 35 before being run out from a direct hit by Gerhard Erasmus, but with the total at 92/2 the Dutch were well in charge.

JJ Smit gave Namibia renewed hope with two wickets in three balls, and when Frylinck dismissed Scott Edwards for one, with the total at 102/5, Namibia were suddenly back in the game.

Man of the match De Leede, however, took the Netherlands to victory scoring 30 not out off 30 balls, as they reached the target with three balls to spare.

JJ Smit was Namibia’s top bowler, taking 2/24, while Frylinck and Scholtz took one wicket each.

Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus was clearly disappointed after the match.

“We are very disappointed to lose after coming so close to winning the match.

With the bat it was a bit difficult for both sides, but they probably ran a bit better than us,” he said.

“There were stages in the game when we didn’t make enough contact and just run the ball into the field, which proved to be probably the 10 or 15 runs which we needed on the board. I think in the field also, there was perhaps a soft moment here or there although we tried our best,” he added.

Coach Pierre de Bruyn said he was proud of their effort.

“It’s never nice losing a match especially after taking it so deep into that last over, and putting up a fight – I’m proud of the guys, but it didn’t work out for us today,” he said.

“We were definitely 15 runs short with the bat, I feel there was a stage where one or two batters just couldn’t get bat on ball and that’s a basic that you need to get right, so we knew that we were 15 short and that we had to scrap with the ball,” he added.

With Sri Lanka beating the UAE by 79 runs yesterday, Group A is now finely poised with the Dutch on four points, and Namibia and Sri Lanka on two each.

Namibia still have a chance of reaching the Super 12s stage of the tournament, but they will have to beat the UAE in their final group match tomorrow, while it could come down to a better run rate to decide who grabs the final two spots.