Namibia into final

THE MTC Namibian cricket team secured their spot in the final of the ICC Intercontinental Cup when they beat Ireland in their first innings at Wanderers on Friday.

Namibia will now play in the final against Ireland or Kenya in November. Ireland will have to meet Kenya to see if they can again meet Namibia in the final, which will be in South Africa.On the second day (Saturday), Namibia lost by 8 runs, but Namibia were already in the final after they secured six bonus points in the first innings.Set 115, Namibia’s hopes of a win were quickly jolted when they were reduced to 31 for 4 on Saturday.But on Friday, Namibia made it look easy against a tough Irish side which ranked in the top ten in the world and which came into the game without a loss in their last six matches.In the first innings the visitors crumbled to 69 runs all out after being sent in to bat by Namibia, with locals Gerrie Snyman and Louis Klazinga causing all the damage by taking four wickets each.Snyman had 4 for 22 runs, while Klazinga had 4 for 11.Ireland’s best contributions came from middle-order batsman Andrew White, who scored 19 runs, while Alex Cusak with his 12 was the only other player to have scored more than 10 runs.In their turn, Namibia were all out for 119, with the biggest contributors being tail-enders Bjorn Kotze (28), Tobie Verwey on 20 and Kola Burger on 16 runs.Peter Connell of Ireland forked out 4 for 24 and was the best bowler for the visitors on the day.On Saturday, Snyman top scored with a 14-ball 28 (three fours, two sixes) but Namibia managed just four double-figure stands.The best was the seventh-wicket stand of 27 between Craig Williams and Bjorn Kotze, both of whom scored 16.The tail failed to wag enough to take Namibia to victory.Ireland will have to meet Kenya to see if they can again meet Namibia in the final, which will be in South Africa.On the second day (Saturday), Namibia lost by 8 runs, but Namibia were already in the final after they secured six bonus points in the first innings.Set 115, Namibia’s hopes of a win were quickly jolted when they were reduced to 31 for 4 on Saturday.But on Friday, Namibia made it look easy against a tough Irish side which ranked in the top ten in the world and which came into the game without a loss in their last six matches.In the first innings the visitors crumbled to 69 runs all out after being sent in to bat by Namibia, with locals Gerrie Snyman and Louis Klazinga causing all the damage by taking four wickets each.Snyman had 4 for 22 runs, while Klazinga had 4 for 11.Ireland’s best contributions came from middle-order batsman Andrew White, who scored 19 runs, while Alex Cusak with his 12 was the only other player to have scored more than 10 runs.In their turn, Namibia were all out for 119, with the biggest contributors being tail-enders Bjorn Kotze (28), Tobie Verwey on 20 and Kola Burger on 16 runs.Peter Connell of Ireland forked out 4 for 24 and was the best bowler for the visitors on the day.On Saturday, Snyman top scored with a 14-ball 28 (three fours, two sixes) but Namibia managed just four double-figure stands.The best was the seventh-wicket stand of 27 between Craig Williams and Bjorn Kotze, both of whom scored 16.The tail failed to wag enough to take Namibia to victory.