Namibia leave it late against Oman

They left it late but the Namibian Eagles got off to a winning start at the T20 World Cup with a super over victory against Oman on Sunday. 

Ruben Trumpelmann gave the Eagles a sensational start when he took two wickets off the first two balls of the match, but Oman clawed their way back to tie Namibia’s total of 109 and force the match into a super over decider. Here the experienced David Wiese led Namibia to victory as he starred with bat and ball to seal the win. 

But after their great start Namibia let Oman off the hook and were nearly punished for it. Trumpelmann dismissed Kashyap Prajapati and Aqib Ilyas for golden ducks and when he had Naseem Khushi caught for six in his second over, Oman were in trouble at 10 for three wickets.

Oman’s middle order, however, recovered well, although it was quite slow going as Namibia’s bowlers kept up the pressure with some tight bowling.

Zeeshan Maqsood scored 22 before being trapped lbw by Bernard Scholtz, while Gerhard Erasmus dismissed Ayaan Khan (15) and Mohamed Nadeem (6).

Khalid Kail, however, kept Oman’s revival going before being caught and bowled by Wiese for 34, which came off 39 balls and included one four and one six. 

Kail’s dismissal led to a lower-order collapse as they lost three wickets for five runs before being all out for 109. 

Trumpelmann went on to claim Namibia’s best-ever T20 World Cup bowling figures of four wickets for 21 runs, while Wiese took 3/21 and Erasmus 2/20. 

It was not much of a total, but Oman clawed their way back into the match with some tight bowling. Bilal Khan bowled Michael van Lingen for a second-ball duck, Niko Davin was dismissed for a subdued 24 off 31 balls, and when Gerhard Erasmus was dismissed for 13, Namibia needed 32 runs for victory off 30 balls. 

Jan Frylinck took Namibia to the brink of victory as they needed five runs off the final over, but Mehran Khan struck back for Oman, dismissing Frylinck for 45 off 48 balls and Zane Green for a duck to restrict Namibia to 109/6 and take the match into a sudden death over. 

Here Wiese and Erasmus put Namibia in charge with Wiese clubbing a four and a six and Erasmus two fours in a 21-total, before Wiese restricted Oman to 10 to complete the win. 

It was a thrilling end to a gripping match but Namibian captain Erasmus admitted that the batters under-performed. 

“It was tough to sum it up and get momentum. We tried that with running between the wickets but you felt you needed that odd boundary. Unfortunately we couldn’t do that, and we need to take accountability for that before the next game. It (the jittery batting) was a tough one on a tough wicket like that. It showed in the Super Over that if you put pressure there will be some scoring opportunity,” he said. 

“It as a great match to be part of – winning a close game early breaks the duck and brings you into the tournament. We experienced everything in this game,” he added. 

Wiese, meanwhile, said it was nerve-wracking. 

“I aged a couple of years tonight and I don’t have a lot of years left in me. It was an emotionally draining evening… The pitch was difficult, and it didn’t play the way we thought, but we adapted well,” he said. 

“It is difficult to gauge a good target because if you’re chasing 180 then you’re playing differently. But when you let them bowl the way they did, you bring them back into the game. Lots of learnings from this game,” he added.