PAPUA New Guinea wrapped up their Intercontinental Cup match against Namibia in Port Moresby on Wednesday with a commanding 199-run victory.
Going into the final day’s play Namibia were still 243 runs short of victory, with only two wickets remaining, and despite a rearguard action led by Wian van Vuuren, the result was never in doubt.
Van Vuuren shared a 49-run partnership for the eighth wicket with Bernard Scholtz, who scored 14, and when Colin Peake was dismissed for 8, the whole team was out for 155, still 199 runs short of the victory target. Van Vuuren remained not out on 28 which came off 91 balls and included five fours.
Earlier Namibia’s top order had once again collapsed, leaving the lower order with an impossible task to save the match.
After four overs Namibia had collapsed to 14 for four wickets, and although JP Kotze (36) and later Van Vuuren led a recovery, they never got close to the victory target.
Lega Sioka was PNG’s top bowler, taking four wickets for 38 runs off 12,1 overs, while Norman Vanua took three for 23 off 14 overs.
Namibia were on the back foot from the start of the match on Sunday, 16 October.
They managed to dismiss PNG for 311 in their first innings, but then in reply, collapsed to 146 all out. Namibia did well to restrict PNG to 189 in their second innings, with spinner Bernard Scholtz taking six wickets for 65 runs off 19 overs, but Namibia once again collapsed to 155 all out in their second innings.
The result sees Namibia remaining second last on the log on 20 points, while PNG move up to fourth position on 40 points. Ireland lead the log on 80 points, followed by Afghanistan on 61 and the Netherlands on 46.
Namibian captain Sarel Burger said their batting had let them down.
“Once again our batting let us down badly, as we crashed to 14 for 4 after four overs. JP (Kotze) and I steadied the fall of wickets by putting on a 50-run partnership, but when I got dismissed, the wickets kept on falling. We addressed this issue in the first innings, but unfortunately our batting department didn’t step up and take responsibility,” he said.
Burger, however, added that he was happy with their bowling performance.
“Our bowling was once again very disciplined and effective, and we managed to bowl PNG out for 189. The key factor was the great discipline displayed by our bowlers, while Bernard did very well, picking up six wickets. All the bowlers contributed to building pressure from the other side, while Bernard just did his thing from his side on a slow turning wicket,” he added.
Namibia will now play PNG in two World Cricket League 50-over matches on Friday and on Sunday and Burger said he expected a better performance then.
“We are still very positive for the two one-day games, we have prepared the last eight months for these two games and all our focus is still on winning these two crucial games. Jan (Frylinck) and Gerrie (Snyman) are available and I’m confident that the wheel will turn for us and that we will perform well. We back each other and are positive for a good result,” he said.
