Geelong: Following his side’s seven-run win over Namibia in their ICC T20 World Cup match, UAE skipper CP Rizwan said that the win is a great moment in the country’s cricket and that he backed his instinct to bowl medium pacers with the dew.
All-rounder David Wiese’s heroics with bat went in vain as top spells from Zahoor Khan and Basil Hameed left Namibia seven runs short of a win against UAE in their Group A round one match against ICC T20 World Cup in Geelong on Thursday. “A great moment for UAE cricket. I would like to thank our coach and the management. We had been doing well in patches, but today everything clicked together. (On Waseem’s bowling at the death) He used to bowl a lot of death overs in our domestic cricket, and with the dew I backed my instinct of bowling medium pacers. This win is really big for UAE cricket, it can tell the world that we are here!,” said Rizwan in a post-match presentation.
With this loss, Namibia have been eliminated from the tournament. Sri Lanka (4 points, two wins in three matches) and Netherlands (4 points, two wins in three matches) have qualified for the Super 12 phase of the tournament.
Batting first, UAE posted 148/3 in their 20 overs. Muhammad Waseem (50) top-scored for his side and had a fifty-run partnership with Rizwan, who scored an unbeaten 43. Bernard Scholtz, David Wiese and Ben Shikongo took a wicket each.
Chasing 149, UAE bowlers restricted Namibia to 69/7 after some solid spells from Zahoor Khan (2/20) and Basil Hameed (2/17). However, a fifty from all-rounder David Wiese (55 off 36 balls) and his 70-run stand with Ruben Trumpelmann (25*) swung the match in favour of Namibia.
But it was the last over dismissal of Wiese that brought another wind of change in the match and UAE clinched a narrow seven-run win.
Zahoor emerged as the pick of the bowlers for UAE, taking 2/20 in four overs. Hameed also took 2/17 in his three overs. Meiyappan and Waseem took a wicket each.
Brief Scores: UAE: 148/3 in 20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 50, Chundangapoyil Rizwan 43*, Bernard Scholtz 1/22) defeated Namibia: 141/8 in 20 overs (David Wiese 55, Ruben Trumpelmann 25*, Zahoor Khan 2/20).
