Online Reporter
THERE was no clean sweep for the Chevrons as they crashed to a 28-run loss to Namibia in their final T20I match at Queens in Bulawao yesterday but captain Sikandar Raza said he was still a happy man.
The hosts won the series 2-1.
Namibia, powered by a brilliant 77 from opener Jan Frylinck, scored 204-7 with Raza taking three wickets at the cost of 25 runs.
In reply, the Chevs top order failed and although Sean Willians fought back with a 77, and got happy from Ryan Burl’s 32, it was not enough to overhaul the visitors’ score.
Still Raza was a happy man.
“Quite happy. We got a lot of answers for the questions we were looking for.
Not happy with how we went about our business today, but credit to Namibia they played really well.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t batted or bowled well today.
“We need every department to click together. We haven’t taken a lot of wickets in the middle overs and that is something we want to improve on.
“I like ourselves to be better with the ball in the powerplay. Thank you very much to the crowd for coming out and supporting us in numbers. It is nice to be back in Bulawayo.”
Brian Bennett, who was named player-of-the-series, said:
“Getting a few runs in these series definitely boosts the confidence and gives me the momentum going into the next week.
“Was just trying to stick to the process.”
The Chevrons won the series but the visitors will be really pleased with their efforts yesterday.
They won the toss, made the most of the batting powerplay and despite a stutter in the middle overs, they managed to post a competitive total on the board.
With the ball, they showed great discipline and consistency to pick up four crucial wickets inside the powerplay.
Williams and Burl stitched a 65-run stand for the fifth wicket, but the required rate kept growing higher and higher with each passing over.
Eventually it was the required rate pressure that fetched the wickets for Namibia although they dropped a couple of easy ones. − Sports Reporter/Cricbuzz
