Namibia A suffer narrow defeat to Kenya

The Namibia A cricket team suffered a narrow three-wicket defeat to Kenya in the Pearl of Africa A series in Entebbe, Uganda yesterday. 

Namibia A scored 113 runs for eight wickets off their 20 overs, but after rain intervened, Kenya was set a revised winning target of 83 runs off 13 overs according to the Duckworth-Lewis Method. The match went down to the wire and Kenya reached the target with one ball to spare and three wickets in hand.

In Namibia A’s innings, most of the top-order batters struggled against Kenya’s bowlers, with only opener Zacheo van Vuuren reaching double figures. He was dismissed for 13, but JC Balt (5), Handre Klazinga (0), and Dylan Leicher (8) all went cheaply as Namibia crashed to 34 for four wickets.

Namibia’s middle and lower order batters, however, started a fine recovery with Liam Basson and Jan Isak de Villiers sharing a 23-run stand before Basson was out for 14. De Villiers continued to attack the bowling before being dismissed for a top score of 33 off 27 balls, while Simon Shikongo added 17 and PD Blignaut 11 not out further down the order as Namibia recovered to post a defendable total.

Peter Langat was Kenya’s best bowler, taking three wickets for 28 runs, while Vraj Patel took 2/14 and Lucas Ndandason 2/15.

In reply, Kenya’s batters struggled from the outset against Namibia’s pace attack. Max Heingo dismissed Dhiren Gondaria for 2 and Sachin Gill for 5, and when Jack Brassell dismissed Rakep Patel for 6, they were three down with only 17 runs on the board.

Namibia’s bowlers maintained the pressure, with Jan Isak de Villiers, Dylan Leicher and Zacheo van Vuuren all claiming wickets, and when Kenya were reduced to 7/48, Namibia seemed to be well in command.

The rain intervention, however, reduced the target, while Lucas Ndandason took Kenya to victory with a great innings of 31 not out off 17 balls. Heingo and Van Vuuren both took two wickets for nine runs for Namibia A.

Namibia had earlier beaten Uganda A by two runs in their opening match on 17 July, while they beat Nigeria by eight wickets two days later.

Despite their defeat to Kenya, they still lead the log with four points from three matches, followed by Kenya on two, and Uganda A and Nigeria, who must both still open their accounts.

Namibia A still have three matches left in the series, against Uganda A today, Nigeria on Friday, and Kenya on Saturday.

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