NAMIBIA are with their backs against the wall after a batting collapse against Papua New Guinea on the second day’s play of their Intercontinental Cup match in Port Moresby.
After the second day’s play on Monday, PNG held a big 169-run lead after dismissing Namibia for only 146, in reply to PNG’s first innings total of 311. At stumps the hosts had reached four runs without loss in their second innings.
Assad Vala was PNG’s hero, scoring a chance-less century and eventually finishing not out on 144.
He didn’t receive much support, with John Reva scoring 45, Tony Ura 28 and Mahuru Dai 24 before the whole team was out for 311.
Namibia were well-placed after reducing PNG to 101 for five wickets, but Vala received good assistance from the lower order as they posted a sizeable total.
Vala and John Reva frustrated Namibia with a 95-run partnership for the eighth wicket, while Vala and Mahuru Dai put on 60 runs for the sixth wicket.
Left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz was Namibia’s best bowler, taking five wickets for 105 runs, while Sarel Burger took 2/23.
In reply, Namibia’s batting was poor as they slumped to 57 for seven wickets after none of the top order batsmen could reach double figures.
Captain Sarel Burger, however, led a rear-guard revival as Namibia reached a total of 146 all out.
Burger scored 52 not out and shared a 52-run partnership for the eighth wicket with JJ Smit who scored 23.
Norman Vanua was PNG’s top bowler, taking 3/39, while Mahuru Dai took 2/29.
With a 169-run lead and two days left to play, PNG are now in a strong position to win the match, but Namibian captain Sarel Burger believes that they can still make a comeback.
“Obviously our backs are against the wall at the moment, but the ball is in our court. We need to take early wickets, the wicket is playing good and is busy deteriorating, so we need to bowl well and then need to bat very well. We are positive that we are still in the game, we know that we normally bat much better in the second innings and know we really need to make it count and apply ourselves,” he told the Namibian Sport.
Burger, however, said their batting effort was not good enough.
“We are still struggling, especially with the top order, no one is constructing an innings and we keep on losing wickets at regular intervals. We are working on ways to get this right, but we need to up our batting as the two one-days games are crucial, and this four-day game will enable batters to get into form and momentum for those two games,” he said.
“Their bowling is very disciplined, it’s nothing extraordinary, but they are a well-oiled unit. Our shot selection was poor, our batsmen need to give themselves a chance to get in, but currently they are trying to play shots too early in their innings,” he added.
Namibia’s bowling department was a bit thin, especially after pace bowler Jan Frylinck was unavailable after not receiving his correct documents from Home Affairs in time.
South African-born Frylinck has qualified for Namibian citizenship through his father who was born in Walvis Bay, and is currently waiting for all his documents from Home Affairs.
In his absence, Burger opened the bowling with JJ Smit, who is also still struggling with an injury, and Burger was generally satisfied with the bowling.
“Our bowling was good – we missed Jan Frylinck as he has not been cleared to play, so JJ and myself were the only recognised seamers, while Steven Baard assisted us quite well. Bernard (Scholtz) was very steady, picking up regular wickets which allowed me to construct an attacking field placing. Our fielding in general was quite good and we took all our catches,” he said.
Burger, however, added that the conditions were quite tough.
“The conditions are really tough, it’s very hot and humid around here, which makes bowling quite difficult, because the seamers can only do short spells,” he said.
