Namibia’s national cricket team crashed to two consecutive defeats against Kwazulu Natal in the Cricket South Africa Challenge competition in Durban over the weekend. On Sunday, Kwazulu Natal beat Namibia by 40 runs in their 40-overs-a-side encounter, while they thrashed Namibia by 155 runs in their three-day challenge the previous day.
The home side elected to bat first in their limited overs match on Sunday, and posted a competitive total of 223 runs before they were all out in the 39th over.
Jon Kent was their top batsman, scoring 63 off 69 balls, while Michael Alexander added 32 runs and Kyle Buckthorpe 31.
Tony Palladino took three wickets for 44 runs for Namibia, while Elton Ambambi and new cap Cristi Viljoen each took two wickets.
Namibia’s batsmen were under pressure from the start as they lost their first two wickets with only 20 runs on the board, as Willem Groenewald was dismissed for 13 and Gerhard Rudolph for one.
When Wian van Vuuren was out for 18 and Craig Williams for 12, Namibia were struggling at 65/4. Raymond van Schoor and Norbert Manyande however started a fine comeback, putting on 66 runs for the fifth wicket before Manyande was out for 31.
Once Manyande was out, Namibia’s challenge faded as the home side soon dismissed the tail-enders. Van Schoor remained not out on 68 as Namibia reached 175 for 8 off their 40 overs to give Kwazulu Natal a comfortable victory.
Natal thrash Namibia in three-day challenge
On Saturday Kwazulu Natal thrashed Namibia by 155 runs in their three-day CSA Challenge match. Namibia’s batsmen failed to make an impact as they were dismissed for only 151 in their first innings and 167 in their second.
Kwazulu Natal declared their first innings at 267/9 and their second innings at 206/3, setting Namibia a victory target of 323 runs.
In Namibia’s first innings, the top batsmen were Tony Palladino (27), Craig Williams (23) and Louis Klazinga (23), while Craig Williams (73) and Louis Klazinga (27) were Namibia’s top batsmen in the second innings.
Tony Palladino was Namibia’s top bowler in Kwazulu Natal’s first innings, taking 4/65 off 19 overs.
Kwazulu Natal collected 18.34 bonus points and Namibia 6.02 bonus points.
Namibia’s next plays against Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth, with their three-day match scheduled from January 28 to 31, and the one day match scheduled for January 31.