Gerrie Snyman led a Namibian comeback to take them to 156/4 in a rain affected first day’s play against North West in Potchefstroom on Thursday.
Namibia got off to a poor start, losing their first three wickets for only 46 runs.
Pikkie Ya France was dismissed for 10 with the total on 19, while Sarel Burger followed shortly afterwards for 5 runs. When Gerhard Rudolph was dismissed for 20, Namibia had slumped to 46 for 3 wickets.
Snyman however launched a fine comeback with a typically aggressive knock. He smashed the bowlers to all corners of the field and reached his 50 with a six off Phangiso’s bowling.
His half century came off only 31 balls.
The match was delayed for a few hours due to rain but when play continued Snyman continued where he left off and reached 76 not out off 49 balls (13x4, 2x6) when play was stopped due to bad light.
Ian Opperman, who made his debut, was out for 20, while Raymond van Schoor was 16 not out at stumps.
Craig Alexander was North West’s best bowler with 3/32 off 11 overs while Chris Morris took 1/56 off 13 overs.
The Namibian team is not at full strength as Craig Williams and Christi Viljoen are currently in Dubai where they will play for an Associate and Affiliate World XI against England from january 7-9.
In their absence, the 22-year-old Ian Opperman and the 17-year-old Johannes Brand have been called up to make their debuts for the senior Namibian team.
The match continues on Friday and Saturday and will be followed by a T20 match on Sunday.
The scorecard:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-domestic-2011/engine/match/5297...