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Lawrence Moyo Head Zimpapers Sports
ASSOCIATE cricket member, Namibia made it three successive Twenty 20 international wins over Test-playing Zimbabwe in an ICC T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier at the Wanderers Sports Grounds in Windhoek yesterday.
Namibia, who won the last two matches of a five-match series early this month to win 3-2, continued their dominance yesterday, winning emphatically by seven wickets with 32 balls to spare while chasing 133 in the teams’ opening game.
While the series early this month was supposed to help prepare the Chevrons for these qualifiers, yesterday’s performance suggested that Dave Houghton’s charges had not learnt anything as they fared worse.
It also seemed as if Namibia withheld their main arsenal in the “friendly” series as Zimbabwe were completely outplayed when it mattered most yesterday.
With only two teams making it to next year’s tournament in the West Indies, the humbling defeat against the hosts means the Chevrons must now win all remaining matches starting today against Tanzania.
“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong today. What we have been talking about in the last six months in T20 cricket is what went wrong; there are too many holes to fix.
“I still believe in this group of boys, I know we have made it harder for ourselves but we will fight, we have been fighting.
“We wanted to win all our games, if we needed a rude awakening then we have had that; we need to get back,” said Chevrons captain Sikandar Raza in the post-match interview.
Namibia won the toss and, as largely expected, elected to bowl. In their previous five-match series, chasing was the more rewarding option.
The hosts were immediately rewarded as Tadiwanashe Marumani, who hit the first ball for a maximum, was out second ball for six.
Fellow opener Nick Welch was the next out, bowled for eight off nine balls while all-rounder Sean Williams went for a golden duck.
Former captain Crain Ervine was the innings topscorer with 36 off 33 balls at number three and his departure left Zimbabwe reeling at 73/4 after 10 overs.
The second highest contribution came from Ryan Burl who was unbeaten on 27 off 25 balls while captain Sikandar Raza was not his usual aggressive self as he fell for 20 off 21 balls.
Wellington Masakadza was run out for 11 off nine balls for the innings’ fourth score in double figures as the Chevrons stumbled to 132/8 off their allotted 20 overs with JJ Smit leading the Namibia attack as he took three wickets for 24 in four overs.
Bernard Scholtz was the most economic as he claimed one wicket for 21 in four overs while Jan Frylinck’s nine runs in one over was the most expensive.
In reply, Namibia raced to 88/0 in the eighth over before Masakadza bowled Michael van Lingen for 30 off 20 balls while fellow opener Niko Davin was the top scorer with 89 off 45 balls — he hit 10 fours and four sixes.
Richard Ngarava was the most economical of the Zimbabwe bowlers as he took one wicket for 20 in four overs while Blessing Muzarabani claimed one for 29 in three overs and Masakadza got one for 42 in 3.4 overs.
Scorecard
Zimbabwe
Tadiwanashe Marumani b Bernard Scholtz 6
Nick Welch b JJ Smit8
Craig Ervine c Erasmus b Lungameni36
Sean Williams c Zane Green b JJ Smit0
Sikandar Raza c Loftie-Eaton b Lungameni20
Ryan Burl not out27
Clive Madande c Zane Green b Erasmus5
Carl Mumba c Erasmus b JJ Smit5
Wellington Masakadza run out (Erasmus/Wiese)11
Extras (w 6, lb 8) 14
Total (8 wickets, 20 overs) 132
DNB: Richard Ngarava, Blessing Muzarabani
Fall of wickets: 1-6 (T Marumani, 0.2 ov), 2-18 (NR Welch, 2.5 ov), 3-18 (SC Williams, 2.6 ov), 4-73 (CR Ervine, 9.6 ov), 5-79 (Sikandar Raza, 11.4 ov), 6-99 (C Madande, 14.2 ov), 7-110 (CT Mumba, 17.2 ov), 8-132 (WP Masakadza, 19.6 ov)
Namibia bowling: Bernard Scholtz 4-0-21-1; David Wiese 4-0-24-0; JJ Smit 4-0-24-3; Tangeni Lungameni 3-0-21-2; Gerhard Erasmus 4-0-25-1; Jan Frylinck 1-0-9-0
Namibia
Michael van Lingen b Wellington Masakadza30
Nikolaas Davin b Blessing Muzarabani89
Jan Frylinck c Ryan Burl b Richard Ngarava1
Gerhard Erasmus not out 5
JJ Smit not out 5
Extras (nb 2, w 1, lb 1) 4
Total (3 wickets, 14.4 overs) 134
DNB: David Wiese, Zane Green, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, JP Kotze, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni
Fall of wickets: 1-88 (M van Lingen, 7.6 ov), 2-111 (JN Frylinck, 10.2 ov), 3-126 (N Davin, 13.1 ov)
Zimbabwe Bowling: Richard Ngarava 4-0-20-1; Blessing Muzarabani 3-0-29-1; Carl Mumba 1-0-14-0; Wellington Masakadza 3.4-0-42-1; Sikandar Raza 2-0-18-0; Sean Williams 1-0-10-0
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