Scotland loom in Bridgetown

Namibia take on Scotland at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown tonight, in a crucial T20 World Cup match between two Associate nations out to make their mark on the biggest stage. 

With heavyweights England and Australia also lying in wait in Group B, a win for either side will be paramount in their quest to reach the top two spots that will qualify for the Super 8 Round.

Namibia got off to a winning start with their super over win against Oman on Sunday, which put them at the top of the log, while Scotland picked up a point in their rain-affected draw against England. Before that match was called off for good, Scotland’s openers George Munsey and Michael Jones gave them a solid start putting on 90 runs off 10 overs with Munsey scoring 41 off 31 balls (4×4,2×6) and Jones 45 off 30 (4×4, 2×6). 

Namibia coach Pierre de Bruyn says he expects a huge battle. 

“I can see it as going to be a very intense battle between us, and both teams will be extremely desperate for those two points in the group. Especially with Scotland only picking up one point against England, which in my opinion was really a bonus point because England was always going to chase that down and grab two points from them. But from our side we know the importance of an Associate clash in this group – we managed to take the points off Oman the other night but this clash is going to be intense,” he said. 

“Scotland are a good outfit in this format, especially at the top with batters like Munsey and Jones – when they get going in the powerplay they make life difficult for bowlers. But as I said the importance of this clash is enormous, and if we can win our first two games and grab four points going into our last two games against Australia and England, then we’ll be sitting with some momentum in a scenario where anything can happen then,” he added.

De Bruyn praised his bowlers on their performance against Oman. 

“We are looking forward to it, it’s our last game here in Barbados and then we are departing for Antigua so it’s really just about executing, from a bowling point of view, and doing exactly what we did against Oman. I thought the bowling unit was outstanding against Oman, our plans came off, and we used the conditions very well and executed our skills very well. So we need to repeat that and if we do we can make it very difficult for the Scotland batters,” he said. 

“From a batting perspective we just need to raise the intensity, especially in the middle, there were way too many dot balls against Oman. We are looking forward to the clash and I trust that the players are up for this and that they understand the importance of this clash,” he added. 

Nothing much separates the two nations on paper, with Namibia ranked 13th and Scotland 14th on the world T20 rankings, while Namibia have the better head-to-head record, having won their last three T20 internationals. 

Scotland, however, have a strong lineup with batters like Munsey, Jones, Richie Berrington and Michael Leask, while the bowling attack will be led by paceman Chris Sole, who clocked 150km/h against Zimbabwe last year, Brad Wheal, Bradley Currie and Mark Watt.

For Namibia, David Wiese underlined the importance of experience and big match temperament in their super over win against Oman and he, along with  captain Gerhard Erasmus, JJ Smit, Jan Frylinck, Ruben Trumpelman and Bernard Scholtz will lead their onslaught in a mouthwatering clash that could once again go down to the wire.