DAVID Wiese made a great home debut for Namibia as he won the man of the match award in their 65-run victory against Jersey in their first T20 match on Wednesday.
Wiese, playing in his first match on Namibian soil since being selected for Namibia in 2021, top scored with a whirlwind 55 not out in Namibia's total of 196/5 and then took 2/16 as Jersey could only muster 131/9 in reply.
Namibia got off to a great start after being sent in to bat as Craig Williams and Divan La Cock put on 53 runs at 10 an over before Williams was the first to go for 40 off 23 balls (7×4, 1×6).
Namibia's top order batsmen maintained their high run rate but none could build big totals as the wickets continued to fall, with La Cock scoring 29, Nicol Loftie-Eaton 13, Gerhard Erasmus 18 and when Malan Kruger was out for 9, Namibia were struggling at 115/5 with only five overs remaining.
Wiese and Zane Green however swung the match Namibia's way with a great unbeaten partnership of 83 runs off only 5,2 overs, or at nearly 16 runs to the over.
In the 19th over they slammed 25 runs off Daniel Birrell, with Wiese scoring consecutive sixes and Green a six and a four, and then in the 20th over they topped that, scoring 29 runs off Elliot Miles, with Wiese scoring three sixes and a four and Green a six.
Green was eventually not out on 30 off 13 balls (2×4, 2×6) while Wiese was not out on 55 off only 21 balls (6×6, 3×4) as Namibia reached a sizeable 196/5 off their 20 over.
Birrell was Jersey's top bowler, taking 2/35 off four overs.
Namibia made a great start to Jersey's innings when Ruben Trumpelmann dismissed Harrison Caryon for a golden duck, and with Trumpelmann and Wiese cutting through Jersey's top order, they crashed to 22/5 after five overs.
Jersey's 18-year-old batsman Asa Tribe made a valiant effort to revive their innings but he received little support as Jersey crashed to 63/8 with just under half their overs remaining.
Tribe and Elliot Miles however put on 49 for the ninth wicket before Miles was run out for 12, while Tribe remained not out on 72 off 57 balls (5×4, 2×6) as Jersey reached 131/9.
For Namibia, Trumpelmann took 3/31, Wiese 2/16 and Bernard Scholtz 2/18.
The second match in the series will see Namibia taking on the United States at 10h00 on Thursday at the United ground.
The scorecard:
https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/namibia-t20-tri-series-2022-1322177/namibia-vs-jersey-1st-match-1322181/full-scorecard
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