ICC MEDIA RELEASE
Dubai, 20 April 2019
The final World Cricket League Division 2 tournament got off to a rollicking start in Namibia.
- JJ Smit and Jan Frylinck steer Namibia to a three-wicket win over Papua New Guinea
- Hong Kong’s Kinchit Shah takes a hat-trick and captain Anshuman Rath scores an unbeaten century as they beat Canada by seven wickets
- Unbeaten half-centuries from Mohammad Nadeem and Suraj Kumar help Oman down USA by six wickets
Home side Namibia began with a narrow win over Papua New Guinea, while Kinchit Shah’s hat-trick also inspired Hong Kong to victory on the opening day of ICC World Cricket League Division 2 action in Windhoek.
There is plenty at stake in what is the final Division 2 campaign, with the top four teams earning ODI status and joining Scotland, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates in the newly-formed ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 – where they will play 36 ODIs each over a two-and-a-half year period.
Meanwhile, the bottom two sides at the end of this week in Namibia will enter the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Challenge League A and B, as the road to ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 qualification continues to heat up.
That makes getting off to a fast start in Windhoek pivotal, which is exactly what the hosts did as they recorded a hard-fought three-wicket triumph over Papua New Guinea.
Hong Kong produced an impressive batting display following Shah’s hat-trick to overcome Canada by sevenwickets, while Oman’s middle order navigated them to a comfortable six-wicket over the United States of America.
Papua New Guinea v Namibia
Before seeing his side home with the bat, Jan Frylinck (3-16 from 7.1 overs) performed heroics with the ball at Wanderers Cricket Ground to limit Papua New Guinea to 118 all out.
The left-arm seamer had PNG opener Tony Ura caught and bowled for 13, forced skipper Assad Vala to edge behind and eventually dismissed top-scorer Chad Soper for 36 off 79 balls.
JJ Smit and Craig Williams also took three wickets apiece as six Papua New Guinea batsmen failed to reach double figures and they were dismissed after just 42.1 overs.
Despite being set a relatively modest target of 119 for victory, Namibia struggled in response as leg-break bowler Charles Amini tore through their top order by dismissing Jean Bredenkamp (4), captain Gerhard Erasmus (4) and Williams (5) to reduce the hosts to 54 for five.
That became 88 for seven before opening bowlers Smit (19 not out) and Frylinck (23 not out) demonstrated their ability with willow in hand to chalk up an unbeaten partnership of 32 that secured a three-wicket win with almost 20 overs remaining and a perfect start to Namibia’s World Cricket League Division 2 campaign.
Namibia Head Coach, Pierre de Bruyn said: “It’s the first game, we bowled extremely well and set the tone, however with the bat we are better than that and made it difficult for ourselves, but a win is a win.”
Canada v Hong Kong
Kinchit Shah took a hat-trick with the final three balls of Canada’s innings before Anshuman Rath made a composed century to see off Canada.
A partnership of 82 between opener Navneet Dhaliwal and number three Srimantha Wijeyeratne got Canada off to a promising start at Affies Park before Wijeyeratne was bowled by Ehsan Khan and Dhaliwal caught and bowled by Tanveer Ahmed, both for 44.
Canadian skipper Davy Jacobs – who played for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League – then picked up the mantle with an unbeaten 52.
Shah then trapped Saad Bin Zafar LBW, cleaned up Dillon Heyliger’s stumps and had Nikhil Dutta caught by Babar Hayat with the last three balls of the innings to ensure the North Americans ended on 222-8.
Hong Kong paced their chase perfectly in response as opener Rath anchored the innings with an unbeaten 114 from 150 balls, including six fours and one six.
He was ably supported by Jamie Atkinson, who scored 35 in an opening stand of 90, hat-trick hero Shah (27) and Ahsan Abbasi (27) as they reached their target with 16 balls remaining to start the campaign with a bang.
Hong Kong captain, Anshuman Rath said: “It was a good match, we know if we batted the full 50 overs, we could chase it down, we probably cut it a bit fine losing three wickets, but it was good to get it over the line.”
Oman v USA
Oman’s bowlers laid down an early marker at United Cricket Club Ground as they bottled up the United States of America batsmen from the off.
USA dangerman Xavier Marshall – who played 37 international matches for West Indies between 2005 and 2009 – was run out backing up by Bilal Khan for eight, while Fayyaz Butt was the pick of bowlers as he ended with figures of 3-23 from eight overs.
Roy Silva bludgeoned a quickfire 33 from 23 balls, which included a pair of sixes, but the United States were still dismissed for 148 from 37.5 overs.
Oman were in early trouble in response as Ali Khan (4-27) dismissed all of the Asian side’s top three to leave them languishing at 17 for three.
But skipper Zeeshan Maqsood (28 from 49 balls) and Mohammad Nadeem (55 not out) steadied the ship and even once Khan had Maqsood caught behind, Suraj Kumar (50 not out) continued his captain’s good work.
And that duo calmly got Oman over the line with 13 balls remaining and six wickets in hand, ahead of a match against another North American side – Canada – on Sunday.
Scores in brief
Namibia won by three wickets at Wanderers Cricket Ground, Windhoek
Papua New Guinea 118 all out, 42.1 overs (Chad Soper 36; Jan Frylinck 3-16, Craig Williams 3-25, JJ Smit 3-34)
Namibia 120-7, 30.3 overs (Jan Frylinck 23 not out, JJ Smit 19 not out; Charles Amini 3-46)
Hong Kong won by seven wickets at Affies Park, Windhoek
Canada 222-8, 50 overs (Davy Jacobs 52 not out, Srimantha Wijeyeratne 44; Kinchit Shah 4-32)
Hong Kong 223-3, 47.2 overs (Anshuman Rath 114 not out, Jamie Atkinson 35; Nikhil Dutta 2-30)
Oman won by six wickets at United Cricket Club Ground, Windhoek
USA 148 all out, 37.5 overs (Roy Silva 33, Monank Patel 25; Fayyaz Butt 3-23, Zeeshan Maqsood 2-24)
Oman 152-4, 47.5 overs (Mohammad Nadeem 55 not out, Suraj Kumar 50 not out; Ali Khan 4-27)
Points table
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Points |
| Hong Kong | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Namibia | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Oman | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Canada | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| PNG | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| USA | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
UPCOMING TOURNAMENT MATCHES
Sunday, 21 April – Namibia v USA, Wanderers; Canada v Oman, WAP; PNG v Hong Kong, Trustco UNITED
Monday, 22 April – Rest/Reserve Day
Tuesday, 23 April – Hong Kong v Oman, Wanderers; PNG v USA, WAP; Namibia v Canada, Trustco UNITED
Wednesday, 24 April – PNG v Canada, Wanderers; Namibia v Oman, WAP; Hong Kong v USA, Trustco UNITED
Thursday, 25 April – Rest/Reserve Day
Friday, 26 April – Canada v USA, Wanderers; Namibia v Hong Kong, WAP; PNG v Oman, Trustco UNITED
Saturday, 27 April – Final, Wanderers (ODI); 3rd v 4th Playoff (ODI), WAP; 5th v 6th Playoff, Trustco UNITED
All matches start at 09h30 local time.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Live scoring all matches will be available on www.icc-cricket.com
B-roll from each day’s play will be made available on the ICC Online Media Zone. For access please emailmary.godbeer@icc-cricket.com
SOURCE: ICC Media
