Muscat, Oct 27
Ruben Trumpelmann’s first over triple strikes and JJ Smit’s late flourish gave Namibia an inspiring four-wicket win against Scotland in their Group II match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Trumpelmann came away with match winning figures of 3/17 and Smit’s 32 off 23 balls took Namibia home as they continued their dream run at the World Cup coming on the back of the famous win against Ireland in the first round.
NAMIBIA START CAUTIOUSLY
Namibia started cautiously and reached 26/0 after the powerplay overs. Scotland struck soon after dismissing Michael van Lingen for 18 after he holed out at cover to Richard Berrington off a Safyaan Sharif delivery.
Chris Greaves then claimed the wicket of Zane Green to put Namibia under a bit of pressure. At the 10-over mark, Namibia were 60/2 and well poised to win if they stuck to some sensible batting.
Scotland’s Michael Leask came up with an absolute peach of a delivery to castle Gerhard Erasmus off his first ball in the 12th over. Namibia lost their fourth wicket when Craig Williams completely misjudged the trajectory of a Mark Watt delivery to be stumped by Matthew Cross.
There were signs of an implosion from Namibia considering the precarious situation they were in and hero of the Ireland game, David Wiese had huge responsibility on his shoulders.
JJ Smit’s aggressive batting skills took Namibia closer to victory in the company of Wiese. However, Wiese fell with just eight runs to win. Smit finished it off with a huge six in the first ball off the 20th over.
SCOTLAND HIT BY TRUMPELMANN
Scotland were off to a horror start after a sensational opening spell from Namibia’s strike bowler Ruben Trumpelmann. Trumpelmann bowled Scotland’s batting mainstay George Munsey off the very first ball of the match.
Calum Macleod was then caught behind off the third ball and Richard Berrington was trapped lbw off the fourth as Scotland were in disbelief losing three wickets for two runs.
It was 18/4 when David Wiese got Craig Wallace lbw in the sixth over. After a brief 39-run partnership between Matthew Cross and Michael Leask, the former was bowled by Namibia’s Jan Frylinck as Scotland struggled at 57/5.
Thereafter, Leask got a move on as he took on the Namibian bowlers smashing four boundaries and a couple of big sixes.
A 36-run partnership between Leask and Chris Greaves ensued which was broken by JJ Smit when he bowled Leask for 44.
Scotland eventually finished at 109/8 setting up a 110-run target for the Namibians.
