Namibia stun South Africa by 18 runs in Tri-nation T20I opener

New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) Namibia pulled off a stunning 18-run victory over South Africa in the opening match of the Tri-nation T20I series at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek on Friday, restricting the Proteas to 145 for 9 while defending a target of 164.

Namibia now has a 2-0 lead in their head-to-head meetings, Ruben Trumpelmann and JJ Smit each taking three wickets to play key parts in the victory.

Bjorn Fortuin, captain of the South African side, won the toss and chose to field, but his bowlers had difficulty in making the most of that decision since the Namibian openers, Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck, scored 84 runs in 9.4 overs.

Steenkamp reached 41 before Fortuin broke up the first partnership, and Frylinck carried on with his excellent performance, scoring 60. Namibia were then unable to form any further major partnerships, but they were helped by contributions from captain Gerhard Erasmus (19), Alexander Busing-Volschenk (13) and Trumpelmann (12), which enabled the hosts to amass a competitive total of 163 for 9.

The beginning of South Africa’s chase was bad, since both of their openers, Jordan Hermann (7) and Lhuan-dre Pretorius (9), were out in the first four overs.

Dewald Brevis kept the visitors in contention by scoring a competitive 75, but more wickets fell at the other end. Since South Africa were at 86 for 5, Duan Jansen went to the crease with Brevis.

They restarted the chase with a stand of 47, which brought the score down to 31 runs needed from the last 13 balls.

However, the essential breakthrough was achieved when Trumpelmann dismissed Brevis, leaving South Africa’s hopes in a very delicate position.

Erasmus then allowed only three runs in the final over and also got rid of South African captain Fortuin, thereby putting Namibia firmly in control.

Jansen, who was not out on 25, managed to score eight runs off the first two balls of the last over and for a moment revived the possibility of an unexpected comeback. However, Smit hit the right length and line to get rid of the remaining batsman and thus secured Namibia’s memorable win.

South Africa’s top contribution came from Brevis’ 75, while the only other players to make double figures were Jansen (25 not out) and Rubin Hermann (12).

South Africa have the aim of recovering when they play Zimbabwe in their next game on Saturday.

–IANS

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