Cricket Namibia (CN) Men’s national squad scripted a remarkable comeback after losing the opening game in the 3-match T20 series against the visiting Emerging squad from South Africa, to register back-to-back comprehensive victories to win the series being played at the Wanderers ground in Windhoek 2-1.
Thanks to the brilliance shown by JJ Smit with his all-round performances in the second and third game, coupled with other individual contributions from the likes of Zane Green, Gerhard Erasmus, Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Jan Frylinck, Namibia Eagles squad will head confidently into the next phase of the tour, which includes a three-match series being played in the 50-overs format.
Namibia squad will be boosted by the availability of Stephen Baard for the one-day games, as he missed the T20 series due to personal commitments. The coaching set-up consisting of Pierre de Bruyn and former South Africa International Albie Morkel will be pleased with the team’s performances over the past couple of weeks, in which the squad have played good cricket against Uganda and now the Proteas Emerging, after more than a year without any competitive cricket due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Brief Scores
Namibia 168/5 in 20 overs (Craig Williams 56, Nicol Loftie-Eaton 37 n.o, Jean-Pierre Kotze 21, Stefan Tait 1/30, Dayyaan Galiem 1/37) lost to South Africa Emerging 169/5 in 18.4 overs (Jason Smith 48 n.o, Sinethemba Qeshile 40, Delano Potgieter 26 n.o, Ruben Trumplemann 2/22, Nicol Loftie-Eaton 1/19) by 5 wickets
South Africa Emerging 190/4 in 20 overs (Jonathan Bird 74 n.o, Grant Roelofsen 52, Kabelo Sekhukhune 37, Gerhard Erasmus 1/20, Ruben Trumplemann 1/33, Jan Frylinck 1/35) lost to Namibia 194/5 in 20 overs (JJ Smit 103 n.o, Gerhard Erasmus 38, Delano Potgieter 2/37, Tshepo Ntuli 1/14, Jason Smith 1/15) by 5 wickets
Namibia 230/6 in 20 overs (Zane Green 63, Gerhard Erasmus 39, JJ Smit 37, Jean-Pierre Kotze 28, Jan Frylinck 22 n.o, Jason Smith 2/43, Gregory Mahlokwana 1/24, Tshepo Ntuli 1/34) beat South Africa Emerging 139 all out in 16.2 overs (Jason Smith 35, Dayyaan Galiem 34, Michael van Lingen 2/6, Nicol Loftie-Eaton 2/8, Jan Frylinck 2/11, Mauritius Ngupita 2/27) by 91 runs
