Namibia (NAM) had a rough day at work on Friday, June 7, when they played Scotland (SCO) in Group B of the ongoing ICC mega cricket extravaganza in Barbados. This was after Namibia (NAM) began their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign in an exciting manner.
Remarkably, at the Kingston Oval, Namibia elected to bat first after winning the toss and had a very bad start to their innings. Both the middle-order batsmen and the openers were unable to get going and continued to lose wickets often. Nikolaas Davin was unable to turn his opening performance into a significant score for his team (20 off 12 balls), while JP Kotze (0 off 3 balls) did not trouble the scorers. Jan Frylinck, too, failed to steady the ship and left (12 off 14) at a low cost.
Namibia’s lone fighter was skipper Gerhard Erasmus.
As wickets fell one after the other, captain Gerhard Erasmus took the initiative and led from the front, reaching a crucial fifty (52 off 31 balls) before being bowled out. This prevented Namibia from rallying back into the match and attempting to make a substantial total. Namibia was not given any break even in the fag stage of the innings, as Scotland continued to apply pressure by dismissing Ruben Trumpelmann, the star of the previous World Cup match, in the 18th over. Consequently, after 20 overs, the African country had 155/9 on the scoreboard.
Also read: T20 World Cup 2024: NAM vs SCOT, Match 12 Highlights
Among the European country’s most spectacular bowling efforts, Brad Wheal stole the show with a three-wicket haul, and Bradley Currie chipped in with two victims. Additionally, Chris Greave, Christopher Sole, and Michael Leask each shared a wicket.
Scotland defeated Namibia for the first time ever behind a captain’s knock from Richie Berrington.
In the meantime, Scotland’s captain Richie Berrington shone at the bat, leading their team to victory with 47* off 35 balls during the T20 World Cup 2024 run chase. Not only that, but at one point Scotland was faltering and the score was displayed as 73/4. To win the game and secure their first-ever victory over Namibia by five wickets at the most important stage of the World Cup, Berrington came to the rescue and stitched together an important 74-run partnership with the man of the moment, Michael Leask (35 off 17 balls).
Meanwhile, here’s how the two captains of the Namibia vs. Scotland game reacted:
Matt Cross, on behalf of Winning Captain (Namibia): “Berrington has a bit of cramp, but he’ll be alright. An important win, we’ve given ourselves a chance to go through with two more big games to come. Currie’s archer celebration, I can’t say I’m a fan of it! Good to be out there and get the job done. Leasky can talk and we’ll hear about his sixes later. Incredible striking. We have to turn up in a couple of days time, have to give ourselves a chance by winning against Oman then it’s all guns blazing for Australia.”
Gerhard Erasmus, Losing Captain (Scotland): “It’s a big rivalry and 150 on the board at a World Cup, we let that one slip. We weren’t up to scratch with the ball or in the field today. Sweeter to score runs in a win, hopefully we’ll regroup and come back stronger. We’ll give it our best shot every game, four more points to come.
Michael Leask, POTM: “That means a lot, we’ve repaid the faith of the people that have come to watch. Last time they had us three-down in the first over, so this feels special. Two more big games to go. My role is simple, hit the ball hard, find gaps, if it’s in the slot, hit it out of the ground. It came off. Put them under pressure, run hard.”
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