Taking part in their third T20 World Cup, Namibia chose to bowl first against Oman at the Kensington Oval in the current T20 World Cup 2024 on a challenging surface. The choice was well-founded when Kashyap Prajapati and Naseem Khushi were trapped by left-arm bowler Ruben Trumpelmann’s accurate opening delivery of the innings. As a result, he wrote history by being the only bowler in T20I history to take two wickets in the opening two deliveries of a game.
After that, Trumpelmann’s bowling session got wild as he claimed four wickets. During the powerplay phase, he notably claimed three wickets to unsettle the Omani batting order. Khalid Kail (34 off 39) and Zeeshan Maqsood (22 off 20) both displayed some resistance for the Middle East team. Namibia therefore dismissed Oman for a meagre 109 runs in what proved to be a low-scoring humdinger.
By dismissing Michael van Lingen in the second ball of the run chase, Oman’s Bilal Khan gave his team an appropriate start. To win the game for Namibia, though, Nikolaas Davin and Jan Frylinck remained composed and used smart play. But then, when they just needed five runs to win the game, the gigantic killers went into a self-destructive mentality and panicked in the final over. Though he only gave up seven runs in three overs, including a maiden, Mehran Khan’s outstanding performance kept Oman in the quest for three wickets.
After eleven years in the T20 World Cup, the Super Over nailbiter
The match between Oman and Namibia took an unexpected turn in the closing moments, with both sides reaching a Super Over. As a result, fans spent every cent of their T20 World Cup ticket. This was noteworthy since it was the T20 World Cup’s first Super Over since 2012. While things were not going well for him at work, David Wiese of Namibia demonstrated his ability to play cricket by getting three wickets in the tie-breaker and then going on to win the match by himself in the Super Over.
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In the tiebreaker, Namibia’s David Wiese and Gerhard Erasmus made headlines by walking out to bat. Remarkably, Oman gave the bowl to David Weise rather than Mehran Khan to guarantee tight bowling, but when it counted most, Weise starred with the bat, smacking him to demonstrate his power striking and scoring 13 runs. As a result, Namibia set a challenging goal of 22 runs. But Wiese put another strain on him with the ball, conceding just 10 runs to Oman and taking Naseem Khushi’s wicket to send his team winning by 11 runs.
Captains’ comments following the thrilling match between Oman and Namibia are as follows:
Winning Captain, Gerhard Erasmus: (Tricky pitch?) It was tough to sum it up and get momentum. We tried that with running between the wickets but you felt you needed that odd boundary. Unfortunately we couldn’t do that, and we need to take accountability for that before the next game. (Jittery batting) It was a tough one on a tough wicket like that. It showed in the Super Over that if you put pressure there will be some scoring opportunity. (Super Over) We haven’t had one in a competition game. Great to be part of. Winning a close game early breaks the duck and brings you into the tournament. Experienced everything in this game.”
Losing Captain, Aqib Ilyas: (enjoyed the game?) Yeah we could’ve enjoyed the game if we would’ve won, but still results… you know… losing and winning is part of cricket. We were maybe 15-20 short. We had already discussed this wicket was on the turning side. That’s where we short. (Super Over, had a plan?) I think Bilal is one of the best bowlers you can have in Associate and this level. But there are days where you plan and it doesn’t execute. He was clear, we were clear, but maybe the ball was wet and he couldn’t execute. Some days it is your day, some days it goes the opposite way.”
David Wiese, POTM: “Aged a couple of years tonight. Don’t have a lot of years left in me (laughs). Emotionally draining evening. (Batting and bowling in Super over) It helped that I had a feel of the game and knew if I get a few hits out in the Super Over …. then with the ball, felt like taking the ball and executing. Pitch was difficult, didn’t play the way we thought. But we adapted well.
It was two-paced, it was a difficult wicket to get yourself in. Definitely one you needed to spend a bit of time before capitalising. (Target) Difficult to gauge a good target because if you’re chasing 180 then you’re playing differently. But when you let them bowl the way they did, you bring them back into the game. Lots of learnings from this game.”
India
