NAMIBIA chased down a big victory target to beat UAE in their final World Cricket League 50-over match on Saturday, but with both countries rooted to the bottom of the log, they have both been relegated to World Cricket League Division 2.
It was a fine response from Namibia who were dismissed for only 89 runs to lose their first WCL match by six wickets, but this time their batsmen finally showed what they are capable of.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the UAE scored 272 for seven wickets off their 50 overs, and Namibia paced themselves well to reach 274/6 with an over and a ball to spare.
The UAE made a solid start with Rohan Mustafa and Chirag Suri putting on 88 runs for the first wicket before Bernard Scholtz dismissed Suri for 27, but Gulam Shabber continued the visitors’ assault, putting on 72 runs for the second wicket.
Mustafa was in fine form and seemed set to reach his century when Scholtz once again made the breakthrough, having Mustafa caught for 96, which included nine fours.
Shaiman Anwar joined Shabber and they continued to pile on the runs on a batting wicket, putting on 96 runs for the third wicket.
Jan Frylinck, however, made the breakthrough, bowling Anwar for 50, and when Craig Williams dismissed Shabber and Muhammad Usman in quick succession, the visitors had five wickets down with 258 on the scoreboard.
Frylinck did well with some tight bowling at the end while he grabbed the wickets of Mohammad Naveed (2) and Adnan Mufti (0) to restrict UAE to 272/7 after 50 overs.
Frylinck was Namibia’s best bowler, taking three wickets for 37 runs, while Craig Williams took 2/56 and Bernard Scholtz 2/45.
LP van der Wersthuizen and Stephen Baard gave Namibia a quick start, with Van der Westhuizen hitting 20 runs off one over by Zahoor Khan, but UAE struck with two wickets in two balls as Mustafa dismissed Van der Westhuizen for 24, and Naveed dismissed Baard for 16.
Craig Williams (8) and Frylinck (12) went cheaply, and when Lohan Louwrens was run out for 48, Namibia still had a long way to go at 130/5, halfway through their innings.
Namibia’s middle order came to the rescue with some big partnerships. Gerhard Erasmus and Sarel Burger shared a 94-run partnership for the sixth wicket before Erasmus was run out for 77, which included six fours and two sixes.
JJ Smit joined Burger to take Namibia to victory, hitting two big sixes in the process.
They shared an unbroken partnership of 48 runs, with Burger not out on 57 and Smit not out on 22.
https://www.namibian.com.na/59563/read/Namibia-beat-UAE-but-are-relegated
