New Zealand beat Namibia by 148 runs in their second One Day International match in Windhoek on July 31, to win the series 2-0.
On July 30, Namibia staged a thrilling comeback before losing the first ODI by 29 runs, but they couldn?t repeat their batting heroics in the second ODI.
New Zealand batted first and all their top order batsmen got amongst the runs. Craig Cumming scored 27 before being caught by Dawid Botha off ST Ackerman, while James Marshall went LBW to Louis Burger for 26.
Lou Vincent was caught by Ian van Zyl off Louis Burger, while Scott Styris was stumped by Morne Karg off JB Burger?s bowling for 25.
New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming kept the scoreboard ticking along with a quick 58 off 64 balls (3x4, 1x6), before being caught by Gerrie Snyman off JB Burger?s bowling.
At 171/5 the match was still evenly balanced, but when Brendon McCullum joined Nathan Astle, the match swung New Zealand?s way.
They started falying the Namibian attack to all corners of the Wanderers ground, although McCullum had a lucky escape when he was dropped on 13. With boundaries coming quick and fast they upped the tempo, scoring 133 runs off the last ten overs as New Zealand reached 326 for 5 off their 50 overs.
McCullum was eventually not out on 84 off 48 balls (7x4, 3x6), while Astle was not out on 73 off 52 balls (6x4, 2x6).
Namibia?s wicket takers were Louis Burger (2/76 off 10 overs), ST Ackerman (1/27 off 5) and JB Burger (2/21 off 3).
Botha, Karg steady the innings
Namibia were soon in trouble when JB Burger was clean bowled by Shane Bond with the third ball of the innings and after ST Ackerman (0) and Louis Burger (6) also went cheaply, Namibia were struggling at 3/22.
Dawid Botha and Morne Karg however steadied the innings with a 52-run partnership, but then Namibia lost three wickets within two runs, to effectively end the contest.
Karg was caught by Stephen Fleming off Chris Martin for 29, Botha was caught by McCullum off Scott Styris for 32 and Gerrie Snyman was caught by McCullum off Martin for a duck, to leave Namibia reeling at 76/6.
Deon Kotze and Stephan Swanepoel gave Namibia a flicker of hope with a 62-run partnership for the seventh wicket, but when they went in quick succession, the run chase was over.
Kotze scored 36 off 38 balls before being caught by McCullum off Daniel Vettori, while Swanepoel scored 28 off 31 balls before being clean bowled by Vettori.
Nicholaas Scholtz scored 15 before being stumped by McCullum off Paul Wiseman, while Neil Rossouw was caught Styris, bowled Vettori for 1. Ian van Zyl was not out on 15 as Namibia were all out for 178 runs.
New Zealand?s wicket takers were Shane Bond (2/16 off 5 overs), Kyle Mills (1/39 off 8), Chris Martin (2/26 off 5), Scott Styris (1/24 off 7), Paul Wiseman (1/41 off 5) and Daniel Vettori (3/24 off 8).
McCullum won the Man of the Match award.