Continuing on their dream run from the qualifiers, Namibia has added one more win in their Kittie. A low scoring tussle against Scotland saw them win by four wickets and five balls to spare. With this win, they have defeated three European Teams in a row now. For Scotland, though they managed to take the game to the deep with the lack of support from the batting lineup, they had to see their second consecutive fall.
Trumpelmann trumped Scotland’s batting
Winning the toss, Namibia couldn’t have been wrong in their decision to field. Ruben Trumpelmann broke the spirits of Scottish batters in the first over itself by taking three wickets. In the process, Ruben Trumpelmann became only the fourth T20 bowler ever to take three wickets in the first over of a match. And the result of that first over by Trumplemann saw Scotland producing a horror of a Powerplay performance, scoring only 22 runs at the expense of four wickets, showing the glimpse of the rundown of their last match against Afghanistan.
In this innings, the only shining star for Scotland was Michael Leask, who helped the team post a three-digit total. With an unmissable display of batting brilliance (contradictory to his team barring Chris Greaves), Leask scored 44 runs at a strike rate of 162. However, the sheer fact that this man’s team struggled to produce a run to ball total tells what Leask’s contribution means.
Namibia stumbles but manages to clinch the victory
One thing that Namibia urgently needs to work on after this is their batting. Even though the target was below par and easily chasable took, everyone will agree that they took it too deeply. If not for J Smit’s cover drive strokes, Namibia would have been on the other side of the result, as even their most experienced player, proteas import David Wiese, couldn’t stay around till the innings end. Such was the pressure created by Scottish bowlers, especially Wheal keeping it clinical with allowing only 14 runs in his four overs quota.
The saviour of the first innings for Scotland, Michael Leask, was called late by the captain but still provided two valuable breakthroughs to keep his team in the game. This call, if taken earlier, could have turned the game in Scotland’s favour but alas. For Namibia, their overreliance on David Weise in the middle is quite evident, and the timely intervention by JJ Smit proved the difference between the two teams.
Conclusion
Scotland cannot even excuse being unable to spin this time (they have lost 16 of their 38 wickets to spin in the tournament so far – the most by any team. The count was 15 wickets of the 30 wickets before this game). The technique seems decent but what’s lacking is to read the conditions and stick to the crease. The bowling seems to be coming around but what’s still pulling down is undoubtedly their batting failures.
And for Namibia, they have now won nine of the ten T20Is this year, and with this win, the tiny nation can only be proud of themselves. Also, Namibia is now higher in the points table than both New Zealand and India. That’s a first for the team, and they’ll surely want to cherish this.