Namibia aim to exit with a bang

Namibia take on Pakistan in their final group match at the T20 World Cup today with only pride to play for. 

After losing all three their matches to date against the Netherlands, India and the United States, Namibia are now bottom of Group A with zero points and out of the running for a place in the Super 8 stage. 

India lead the log with six points from three matches, followed by the United States and Pakistan on four points each and the Netherlands on two points. At this stage India is the only side to have qualified for the Super 8s, but Pakistan, the United States and the Netherlands still have a chance to join them into the next round. 

If Pakistan beat Namibia, they will go through with India, but if Namibia can pull off a victory, the United States will edge Pakistan into the knockout stages.

Even the Netherlands have a remote chance of making the next round but that is highly unlikely. They will have to pull off a shock win against India today and improve their run rate considerably, while hoping that Namibia beats Pakistan.

Both scenarios are highly unlikely, but Namibia has not lived up to its true potential and still has a lot more to offer.

In their last match against the USA they were set a big target of 200 for victory, but got off to a great start and were well on course when they reached 97 for one halfway through their innings. 

The dismissal of Nicol Loftie-Eaton for 28 and Louren Steenkamp for 

58, however, stemmed the tide, and although JJ Smit (31) offered a bit of hope towards the end it was too little too late as the USA closed out a comfortable 31-run victory. 

Even against India’s huge target of 210, Namibia were in with a shout when they reached 86/2 by the 10th over, but another middle-order collapse put paid to their chances, as Loftie-Eaton, Erasmus and Smit were all dismissed within seven balls. 

Of Namibia’s top order batters, only Steenkamp has really shown his true potential and is currently Namibia’s leading scorer with 93 runs at an average of 31,00.

Jan Frylinck, who holds the Namibian highest T20 score of 134 runs, as well as a 50 off only 13 balls, has so scored 71 runs at an average of 23,66, while another record breaker Loftie-Eaton, who briefly held the world record of a 33-ball century, has scored 83 runs at an average of 27,66. 

The form of captain Gerhard Erasmus and JJ Smit, however, has been disappointing as neither has lived up to their potential. 

Erasmus, who has scored close to 2 000 runs in T20 internationals, including one 100 and 13 50’s, has only scored 42 runs so far at an average of 14,00, while Smit, who has scored more than 1 000 T20 international runs with one 100 and four 50s, has only totalled 53 runs with a top score of 31. Both of them are match winners in their own right, and if they can hit it off Namibia will have a chance against any opposition.

Erasmus, in fact, has impressed more with the ball, with a brilliant spell of 4/20 against India, but Namibia’s bowlers on the whole have been too wasteful.

Their fielding, however, has been great, exemplified by some excellent catches by Dylan Leicher on the boundary, and if they can click in all departments they could pull off a huge upset. 

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