LOHAN Louwrens and Petrus Burger played starring roles as Namibia beat Kenya by eight wickets at the u19 Cricket World Cup in Lincoln, New Zealand on Thursday.
Burger was the pick of the bowlers, taking five wickets as Kenya were bundled out for 176, while Louwrens led the batting charge with a quick fire century as Namibia comfortably reached the total with nearly half their overs in hand.
Namibia won the toss and sent Kenya in to bat and the east Africans were soon in trouble when Ben Shikongo bowled Dennis Kavinya for five runs. Aman Gandhi (52) and Aveet Desai (32) revived their innings with a 73-run partnership, but Burger struck to cut through their middle order, as their last seven wickets fell for only 73 runs.
Burger eventually took five wickets for only 24 runs off 10 overs, while Shikongo took 3/29 off 8,5 overs.
Namibia’s run chase got off to a great start as Louwrens and Jurgen Linde put on 56 for the first wicket before Linde was dismissed for 30.
Shaun Fouche joined Louwrens who took centre stage as they shared a 119-run partnership for the second wicket.
Louwrens was the main contributor as he was eventually out for 114 which came off only 76 balls and included 13 fours and three sixes.
Fouche, who remained not out on 28, and Eben van Wyk, not out on four, took Namibia to a comfortable victory, with 23 of their 50 overs still in hand.
In other matches yesterday, Ireland beat Papua New Guinea by three wickets; Afghanistan beat New Zealand by 202 runs; and Sri Lanka beat Zimbabwe by five wickets.
