Namibia completed a stunning victory by an innings and 94 runs in their CSA 3-Day match against Kwazulu Natal in Windhoek on Friday.
After building up a 172-run lead on the first innings, Namibia skittled KZ Natal out for 78 in their second innings to complete a comprehensive victory.
In Namibia’s innings of 252, openers Xander Pitchers and JB Burger gave Namibia a good start with a 63-run partnership before Pitchers was out for 35. He was followed shortly afterwards by Stephen Baard and JP Kotze who were both out for a duck, and when JB Burger was out for 40, Namibia had crashed to 77 for 4 wickets.
There were however solid contributions down the order as Namibia rallied to 252 all out.
Christi Viljoen scored 36, Brandon Viret 44 off only 24 balls and Shalako Groenewald 31 not out.
Kwazulu Natal were immediately under pressure in their second innings when opener Mishkal Ramsaroop was run out by Brandon Viret for a duck.
Namibia’s bowlers kept the pressure up with some great bowling and eventually bowled out the whole side for a mere 78 runs. Only Chad Bowes, who scored 21, managed to reach double figures. Namibia’s top bowlers were Tiaan Snyman (three wickets for 23 runs), Brandon Viret (2/12), Christi Viljoen (2/21) and Raymond van Schoor (2/18).
Kwazulu Natal strike back
Kwazulu Natal however bounced back with a comprehensive 107-run victory in their 50-over match yesterday.
After winning the toss the visitors went in to bat and got off to a great start as Chad Bowes and Craig Delport put on 61 runs for the first wicket.
Christi Viljoen got the breakthrough, dismissing Delport for 51 and Nashen Govender for a duck, but Bowes continued to attack the Namibian bowling and went on to reach a century. He was eventually dismissed for 112 off 154 balls, which included nine fours.
Further down the order, Prenelan Subrayan hit a quickfire 86 off 54 balls and Abdul Razak 30 not out off 12 balls as Kwazulu Natal reached a formidable total of 312 for six wickets off their 50 overs. Christi Viljoen was Namibia’s best bowler with two wickets for 70 runs.
Namibia’s run chase started poorly as they lost their first three wickets for only 38 runs, as Xander Pitchers (10), JB Burger (7) and Raymond van Schoor (1) all went cheaply.
LP van der Westhuizen gave them hope with a fine innings before he was dismissed for 59 off 63 balls, which included five fours and two sixes. Recalled Craig Williams (13) and Sarel Burger (15) failed to make an impact and when Nicolaas Scholtz was out for one, Namibia were struggling at 124 for seven wickets.
Namibia’s lower order all chipped in with useful contributions as Stephen Baard scored 23, JP Kotze 31 and Christi Viljoen 23 but they fell well short of the target as the while team was out for 211 runs.
Tshepo Moreki (three wickets for 33 runs) and Craig Delport (3/42) were the visitors’ best bowlers.
