Namibia crashed to a 76-run defeat in their three-day CSA Challenge match against North West in Potchefstroom on Saturday. It was a disappointing end to a match that Namibia should have won, but they failed to press home their advantage as the home side recovered for a come-from-behind victory.
Namibia had North West in deep trouble early in their first innings when Louis Klazinga took three wickets in seven balls as North West crashed to 20/4 and then 31/5.
But Namibia let the home side off the hook as their lower order staged a fine recovery, led by Werner Coetsee. Coetsee was eventually not out on 92 when he ran out of partners as the whole side was dismissed for 192.
Klazinga was Namibia’s top bowler, taking 4/38 off 15 overs, while Bernard Scholtz took 3/56 off 13 overs.
Namibia’s first innings got off to a solid start as Gerhard Rudolph (45), Craig Williams (35) and new cap Stephen Baard (45) all made good contributions to take the score to 138/9.
The dismissal of Williams however sparked a mini collapse as three wickets tumbled within eight runs.
Wickets continued to fall regularly as only Nicolaas Scholtz (14) and Louis Klazinga (31) managed to reach double figures and Namibia were eventually all out for 213, giving them a slender lead of 19 runs.
Kyllin Vardhan was North West’s best bowler, taking 5/25 off 9 overs.
Namibia’s bowlers, led by Christi Viljoen, once again put them in a winning position after reducing North West to 96/6 in their second innings. But once again they failed to capitalise as North West’s middle order batsmen Brett Pelser and Chris Morris staged a dramatic recovery.
They hit Namibia’s bowlers to all corners of the field as they built a record seventh wicket partnership of 249 runs. When Morris was eventually out for 145 off 154 balls (17x4, 3x6), North West were in the driving seat at 345/7, and when they declared shortly afterwards at 350/7, Pelser was not out on 110, which came off 179 balls and included 12 fours.
Christi Viljoen was Namibia’s top bowler, taking 3/75 off 22 overs.
This left Namibia a winning target of 332 which proved to be beyond them. Their second innings got off to a bad start as Raymond van Schoor was dismissed for a duck off the third ball of the innings, and although the rest of the batsmen all reached double figures, only Craig Williams managed to reach a half century.
He top scored with 54, while Louis Burger scored 36, Norbert Manyande 35, Nicolaas Scholtz (24) and Stephen Baard (20) as Namibia were all out for 255, still 76 runs in arrears.
Werner Coetsee (5/78 off 26 overs) and Riyaadh Bhayat (4/37 off 14 overs) were North West’s best bowlers.