Namibia beat Ireland by 8 wickets to qualify for the Super 12 stage of T20 World Cup 2021

Namibia is another great example of resilience in this year’s tournament. As earlier Scotland showed some great gameplaying prowess to qualify for the elite round ahead of Oman and Papua New Guinea in Group B.

Namibia has created history by qualifying for the Super-12 stage by defeating Ireland in their third and final match of the qualification round. They came into the tournament as the least favorite. With teams like Ireland and Netherland, in their group, everyone has written them off, but the will to obtain glory was far superior in the Namibian players as they fought hard throughout their campaign to win their spot in the superior most tier of the tournament.

After suffering a humiliating defeat by the hands of Sri Lanka in their previous match, nobody had expected Namibia to even post as a challenge for Ireland. Their decision to bowl first after winning the toss seemed to have backfired as the Irish batters got on to a great start in the powerplay. Together they experienced dup of Sterling and Kevin O Brien added 62 runs for the first wicket. No batter after them could find his stride in the middle order except the captain Andrew Balbirnie who scored 21 runs, to keep his side afloat. However, the floodgates opened for Namibia after they removed the captain. In the last 5 overs, the Irish side could only manage to score 26 runs and lost 5 crucial wickets. Jan Frylinck was the pick of the bowlers for Namibia as he picked up 3 wickets in his 4 overs and gave away just 21 runs.

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In the second inning, Namibia has a slower start. They could only accumulate 27 runs in their powerplay. The one thing they did differently from Ireland was that they did not lose wickets at regular intervals. Instead, their captain Erasmus anchored the inning while batting with Zane Green and later with David Wiese, who played a flamboyant knock of 28 in just 14 balls to coast his side home while Erasmus scored a steady 53 of 32 balls. Weise was also awarded the man of the match award for his performance. He also picked up two wickets with the ball in hand.

Namibia is another great example of resilience in this year’s tournament. As earlier Scotland showed some great game playing prowess to qualify for the elite round ahead of Oman and Papua New Guinea in Group B.