First T20I, 24 October In the first T20I, Namibia shocked Zimbabwe with a brutal display in Windhoek. With the bat, Zimbabwe had a terrible start when both of their openers, Nick Welch and captain Craig Ervine, went out for ducks, leaving them reeling at 2/2. After the loss, Zimbabwe was never able to bounce again, as 2/2 quickly turned into 22/4.
With a 39-run partnership, Sikandar Raza and Wessly Madhavere temporarily stopped the bleeding, but Namibia soon resumed taking wickets in groups. Raza had the most points with 39, but Luke Jongwe’s 22 helped the visiting team pass 100 and finish with 121/9. The best bowler was Gerhard Erasmus, who finished with figures of 3/15.
Even though Richard Ngarava scored right away for Zimbabwe, Namibia was solidly in charge thanks to the explosive start of Nikolaas Davin.
Erasmus, who was largely a spectator during the powerplay as the ball was moved around, fell for 8, but Davin could not be stopped. He scored an unbroken 80 off just 44 balls, helping the home team win the game with 38 remaining to grab an early series lead.
Brief scores: Namibia defeated Zim 122/3 in 13.4 overs (Nikolaas Davin 80*; Richard Ngarava 2/15) by seven wickets, after Zimbabwe scoring 121/9 in 20 overs (Sikandar Raza 39; Gerhard Erasmus 3/15).
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