NAMIBIA’s Cricket World Cup League 2 campaign got off to a losing start as they went down by eight runs to the UAE in a close encounter in Muscat, Oman on Monday.
After being sent in to bat, UAE reached 222 runs for nine wickets off their 50 overs, which was just enough in the end as Namibia could only manage 214/8 in reply.
Namibian opening bowler JJ Smit made an early breakthrough in UAE’s innings, dismissing Vriitya Aravind for two, but the rest of UAE’s top order batsmen chipped in with useful contributions.
Chirag Suri scored 22, Basil Hameed 18 and Darius D’Silva 31 as UAE reached 97/4 at the halfway stage of their innings.
Mohammad Usman added 37 in the middle order, but the momentum swung Namibia’s way when UAE lost three wickets for the addition of only four runs as they crashed to 136 for seven wickets.
Namibia, however, let them off the hook, as Rohan Mustafa led a fine revival by the UAE.
He was eventually not out on 59 which came off 65 balls, while Ahmed Raza added 19 and Palaniapan Meiyappan 12, as UAE managed to reach a competitive total of 222 for nine wickets.
All of Namibia’s bowlers got amongst the wickets, with JJ Smit taking 2/46, Ben Shikongo 2/41 and Bernard Scholtz 2/34, while Jan Frylinck, Craig Williams and Pikky Ya France took one wicket each.
Namibia got off to a steady start with useful contributions from their top order batsmen, but UAE’s bowlers pegged them back with regular wickets, while the going was a bit slow.
Zane Green was the first to go for 12, while JP Kotze scored 27, and when Stephen Baard was dismissed for 32, Namibia had reached 93 for three wickets with about half their overs remaining.
Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus and Craig Williams regained the initiative with a 54-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but when they were both dismissed in quick succession by the leg spin bowler Meiyappan, the momentum swung back to the UAE. Erasmus was dismissed for a top score of 56 off 74 balls (5×4) and Williams for 18 as Namibia were pegged back to 154/5.
JJ Smit could only manage to score six runs, but Jan Frylinck and Karl Birkenstock revived Namibia’s hopes with a 38-run partnership for the seventh wicket.
It was, however, too little too late and Frylinck and Birkenstock were both dismissed in the final over for 31 and 15 respectively, as Namibia eventually fell eight runs short of the target.
Meiyappan was UAE’s best bowler, taking four wickets for 37 runs off nine overs, while Junaid Siddique, Darius D’Silva and the man of the match, Rohan Mustafa, took one wicket each.
It was UAE’s first victory at the Tri-Nations series in Oman, after they lost their opening match to Oman by five wickets on Sunday.
Namibia now remain in fourth position on the log on six points from four matches, but they still have a few matches in hand on the early leaders.
The United States lead the log on 12 points from eight matches, followed by Scotland on nine from eight matches and Oman on eight points from five matches.
Namibia, however, face a tough encounter when they take on Oman in their next match on Wednesday.
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