In an early World Cup encounter, Namibia played Oman to begin their campaign. With either side in the hunt for a stable start, Oman was put to the test first against Namibia.
Bowling first, Namibia dominated with early wickets and broke the back of the Oman batting order. They never seemed to be back on track as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and were all out in the 20th over with 2 balls left for a low score of 109.
Under not very batting-friendly conditions at Bridgetown, Namibia set off on a steady start, and the game looked to be on their side until the 18th over arrived. It was then that Oman pacer Mehran Khan bowled a wicket-maiden and later went on to defend just five runs in the final over of the game. It was Mehran who led the Asian side to the super-over.
However, the heroism of Mehran Khan went all in vain as David Wiese, the South African turned Namibian veteran, kept his calm and took Namibia into the super-over.
In the super-over, Wiese came to an end with skipper Erasmus, and both batters scored an unbeaten 21 runs. Wiese dug the wide yorker and managed to get a boundary of the first ball before hitting the second ball for a six-over wide long on. The skipper, on the other hand, wrapped up a perfect super-over with two consecutive boundaries.
The 39-year-old took the responsibility on his shoulders to defend the seemingly great total in the super-over. Mixing up his pace and length for the deliveries, Wiese restricted Oman to a 10-run over and won the match for Namibia superiorly.
Namibia landed their first win in this year’s T20 World Cup, though Oman also made a very convincing effort, and either team should be praised for their inevitable impact in the contest.
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