Cricket

A batting collapse saw Namibia crashing to a 43-run defeat against Free State in their Cricket South Africa One-Day match in Bloemfontein on Sunday.

Namibia’s bowlers did well to dismiss Free State for 188 runs, but Namibia’s batsmen could not deliver the goods as they were all out for 145 runs off only 38,3 overs.

Namibia however once again let Free State off the hook after having them struggling at 84/7, but they could not finish off the tail.

Free State took command of the three-day Challenge match against Namibia on Friday, as they reached 65/2 at stumps for an overall lead of 156 runs with eight second innings wickets in hand.

After scoring 238 in their first innings, Free State dismissed Namibia for a paltry 147 to take a 91-run lead on the first innings.

Namibia’s innings started on a disastrous note as Pikkie Ya France was run out for a duck off the third ball of the innings and from then on Namibia were always on the back foot.

The honours were quite even at the end of the first day of the CSA 3-Day match between Free State and Namibia in Bloemfontein on Thursday.

Sent in to bat, Free State were all out for 238, while Namibia reached 4/1 at stumps on day one.

pace bowler Louis Klazinga gave Namibia the perfect start when he dismissed Lefa Mosena for four and Rudi Second for a duck in the first over of the match.

When Klazinga dismissed Jay van Dyk for four, Free State were in deep trouble with three wickets down with the total on 11.

Convenor of Selectors for Cricket Namibia, Gielie Vermeulen announced the teams to play against the Free State and Northerns in Cricket South Africa fixtures over the next two weeks.

Namibia will take on Free State at the University grounds in Bloemfontein from Thursday, November 15, while their match against Northerns starts in Pretoria on November 22.

Opening bowlers Christi Viljoen and Louis Klazinga return for both encounters after being rested, while opening barsman Ian Opperman also returns to the team.

Namibia’s new national cricket coach Doug Watson has begun his tenure with a big bang.

In his first series of matches in charge, the Cricket South Africa three-day and one-day matches against Griquas, Watson recorded wins in both formats of the game. This is particularly significant in light of the team’s performances the last few seasons in the CSA competition.
 
In the three-day competition the team finds itself off the bottom of the log and moving up to ninth position on the log after two matches.

Namibia went to the top of the Cricket South Africa 50-over Challenge series after their four-wicket win against Griquas on Sunday.

Namibia obtained four bonus points for the win to go to the top of the log with nine points from two matches.

They are followed by Boland who have nine points from three matches, while North West, Free State and Border are all on eight points.

Raymond van Schoor and LP van der Westhuizen are Namibia’s top batsmen in the competition and both appear amongst the top ten run scorers.

A great innings of 83 not out by Craig Williams steered Namibia to a four-wicket victory against Griqualand West in their CSA 50-over match on Sunday.

When Williams stepped to the crease Namibia were still 146 runs away from victory. Wickets continued to fall and when Nicolaas Scholtz was out for 8 runs, Namibia were struggling at 166 with only four wickets in hand.

But Williams and Bernard Scholtz steadied the innings with an unbeaten partnership of 63 runs to steer Namibia to victory.

Williams’ 83 runs came off only 95 balls and included six fours and one six.

Namibia comfortably beat Easterns by seven wickets in their CSA 50-over match at the United field on Sunday.

LP van der Westhuizen led the way with a blistering innings of 97, while Raymond van Schoor added 82, as Namibia passed Easterns’ total of 262 for the loss of only three wickets.

Easterns got off to a good start after being put in to bat, as Johan Fourie and Tumelo Bodibe put on 49 for the first wicket.

Louis Klazinga got the breakthrough, dismissing Bodibe for 22, while Fourie scored 49 before being run out by Gerrie Snyman.

Easterns posted a remarkable 4-wicket victory against Namibia in their CSA Challenge match after completing a great comeback at the United field on Saturday.

Namibia seemed to be well set for victory when they took a 109-run lead on the first innings, but a batting implosion in their second innings turned the match on its head.

Namibia lost an incredible six wickets for only four runs as they crashed from 20 without loss to 24/6 and from there on they could not recover.

Gerhard Rudolph and Nicolaas Scholtz top scored with 13 runs each as Namibia crashed to 60 all out.

Cricket Namibia and its main sponsor MTC have agreed to implement quotas at all levels of the game to speeden up transformation of the game in Namibia.

At senior national level a minimum of three to four black players must be included in the team, with at least two actively playing, while from U13 to U19 level, a minimum of four black players must be actively involved in matches.

Furthermore, Cricket Namibia (CN) must accommodate at least two black representatives on their board, and two black representatives on their national and other age group selection committees.