Bridgetown (Barbados), June 7 (IANS) Skipper Richie Berrington and Michael Leask starred for Scotland as they beat Namibia by five wickets to pick up their first win of 2024 T20 World Cup on Friday (as per IST).
Skipper Gerhard Erasmus’ powerful 52 from 31 balls guided Namibia to a competitive total of 155/9 at the Kensington Oval. In response, Berrington’s unbeaten 47 off 35 balls and Leask’s 35 off 17 steered the chase after an early bout of the jitters to chase down the total with nine balls to spare.
It was Scotland’s first T20I victory over Namibia and they’ll now move above the African nation in the ICC rankings.
Namibia won the toss at an overcast but dry Bridgetown and opted to bat first. asked Scotland to bowl first.
Scotland had an excellent start with the ball, taking the first wicket for no runs as Brad Wheal dismissed JP Kotze for a duck. Two more wickets fell in the Powerplay as Jan Frylinck (12) was bowled by Brad Currie, and Nikolaas Davin (20) was caught off Chris Sole.
Zane Green (28 off 27) and David Wiese (14 off 13) resisted Scotland’s impressive bowling, but Namibia struggled for late runs, with only Erasmus finding some fluency as his side posted a total of 155/9.
Scotland’s chase began with George Munsey (7 off 15) falling early to Tangeni Lungameni. Erasmus then removed Michael Jones (26 off 20) in the eighth over and Scotland were reeling 49/2. A clever stumping by Namibia keeper Zane Green to dismiss Brandon McMullen shifted the momentum.
When Matthew Cross was trapped LBW (3 off 5) in the 11th over, Namibia remained in contention. However, Berrington hit consecutive boundaries to end the 13th over, putting Scotland back on track. Leask joined in with a six in the next over, taking Scotland past 100-run mark.
A 19-run 17th over brought Scotland close to their first T20I win over Namibia, with the partnership surpassing 50 runs. Leask was dismissed in the next over and Berrington sealed the deal with a maximum in the second-last over.
Brief scores: Namibia 155/9 in 20 overs (Gerhard Erasmus 52; Brad Wheal 3-33) lost to Scotland 157/5 in 18.3 overs (Richie Berrington 47*, Michael Leask 35; Gerhard Erasmus 2-29) by 5 wickets
–IANS
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