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Mehluli Sibanda in BULAWAYO
NAMIBIA levelled things up in the five-match Twenty20 International cricket series with victory by six wickets in a tense fourth match at Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo yesterday, a result which left the series tied at 2-2 with one more match to go.
Zane Green slammed the last ball of the match bowled by Tendai Chatara for a boundary to seal the win for the Namibians right at the end. Namibia, in response to Zimbabwe’s score of 157/8 in 20 overs finished on 161/4, their highest run scorer being skipper Gerhard Erasmus whose unbeaten 58 won him the Man of the Match while Michael van Lingen was second best with 51 runs.
The win by Namibia means that there is all to play for in the fifth and final T20I at the same venue tomorrow.
Zimbabwe looked well set to post a score in the region of 200 runs when Wessley Madhevere gave them a brilliant start. The opener, scorer of an unbeaten 73 runs in Zimbabwe’s victory by eight wickets on Saturday raced to his 50 off 30 balls but was run out going for a tight single two balls later. From there, it all fell apart for the home team.
After Madhevere’s dismissal, Zimbabwe struggled for runs with the next notable contribution being 27 by Richmond Mutumbami.
Zimbabwe did get an early breakthrough when Chatara had Craig Williams leg before wicket for one run. Some sloppy fielding saw Zimbabwe loosen the screws on Namibia.
It eventually came down to the last over bowled by Chatara with Erasmus and Green at the crease. The first delivery was a dot ball, singles came off the next two balls, the next was a leg bye followed by a single before Green hit the last for a boundary.
Scorecard
Namibia 161/4 20 overs (Erasmus 58*, Van Lingen 51, Erasmus, Jongwe 2/35, Raza 1/20, Chatara 1/24) beat Zimbabwe 157/8 20 overs (Madhevere 50, Mutumbami 27, Scholtz 3/25) by six wickets
Online Reporter