Barbados:Richie Berrington's captain's knock and Brad Wheal's three-for helped Scotland to beat spirited Namibia in match number 12 of the ongoing ninth edition of the T20 World Cup 2024 at Kensington Oval stadium here on Friday. Notably, this is also Scotland's first-ever win against Namibia in T20 internationals.
Once again, Michael Jones gave a decent start to Scotland innings despite losing his partner earlier in the innings. However, Scotland found themselves struggling at 73/4 after losing a couple of wickets in quick succession. When Namibia looked in full control with spinners operating from both ends, Berrington showed calmness on the field, playing a sensible innings from one end while the all-rounder Michael Leask came out and started to go bang bang.
The required rate went up every over, it needed a blinder from someone and it was Leask who came to the party. Leask smashed a quickfire 35 off 17 balls laced with four huge sixes to provide the boost in the run-scoring, while Scotland's captain (47 off 32 balls) played second fiddle to him and managed to find boundaries at regular intervals.
Veteran all-rounder David Wiese, who bowled a couple of full tosses in the 17th over, made it easy when 19 came off it and the target eventually was chased down with 9 balls to spare. Namibia paid for some sloppy bowling towards the end and that's where the game slipped away, otherwise, they were in the game till the 16th over.
Earlier, Namibia lost their opener JP Kotze in the first over, who gave a sitter to McMullen. Then, almost all batters got starts but failed to convert it into big scores except for their captain Gerhard Erasmus, who starred with a half-century. However, losing wickets at regular intervals increased pressure on their captain, who lost his wicket in the 14th over. Wiese, who can hit sixes at will, also failed to provide the power to Namibia's innings towards the end. He was dismissed on 14 off 13 balls. In the end, Namibia managed to post 155/9 in their allotted 20 overs.
Scotland were disciplined with the ball and they held onto all their chances in the field - three wickets for Wheal and two for Bradley Currie. They now stand at the top of the table now, with the first game turning out to be a rained-out affair against the defending champions England and a comfortable victory over Namibia.
