Cricket

The limited overs SAA Cup match between Namibia and Free State ended in a dramatic tie on Sunday in a rain interrupted match. Free State scored 262 off their allotted 50 overs, but a rain interruption of more than an hour meant that Namibia’s overs and total had to be reduced under the Duckworth Lewis system. When play resumed, Namibia’s new target was 212 off 33 overs and with one over remaining they still needed eight runs. After running a single, Namibian captain Louis Burger hit a six and with one ball remaining they still needed two runs to win the match.

The three-day SAA Challenge match between Namibia and Free State ended in a draw on Saturday with Namibia on 157/5 in their second innings. After most of the second day’s play was lost due to rain, a draw was the most likely result.

Namibia declared at 298/9 in their first innings and then had Free State on the rack at 54/5 in their first innings.

Free State however staged a fine recovery on Saturday, led by Remano Terblanche. He went on to score 64 not out off 150 balls to dash any hopes Namibia had of forcing Free State to follow on again.

Despite most of the second day’s play being delayed due to a waterlogged outfield, Namibia made a late breakthrough to strengthen their chances of beating Free State in their SAA Challenge match at the Wanderers field on Friday. Due to heavy overnight rain, the whole morning’s play was lost and play eventually only got underway at 15h00 on Friday afternoon.

Namibia’s bowlers however soon had Free State in trouble and at the close of play the visitors were struggling at 54/5 in their first innings – still 244 runs behind Namibia’s first innings total.

A late batting recovery saw Namibia reach 298/9 in their three-day SAA Challenge match against Free State at the Wanderers field on Thursday. When captain Louis Burger was dismissed for 15, Namibia were struggling at 153/6, but Craig Williams and Nicolaas Scholtz put on 80 runs for the seventh wicket to put Namibia in the ascendancy.

Williams was eventually out for 75 which came off only 65 balls (3x6, 3X4) while Scholtz was dismissed for 50 which came off 71 balls (5x4).

Earlier, Namibia got off to a slow start after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Namibia face a strong Free State team in the three-day SAA Challenge competition starting at the Wanderers field on Thursday. The Free State team includes pace bowler Victor Mpitsang who represented South Africa’s Proteas in two one day limited overs matches against the West Indies in 1999.

Besides Mpitsang, the team includes several top batsmen who have all played for the Free State’s professional franchise, the Eagles. They are opening batsman Divan van Wyk, captain and top order batsman Johanthan Beukes, and middle order batsmen Hanke von Rauenstein and Riley Rossouw.

Namibia remain third out of seven teams on the three-day SAA Challenge cricket log after drawing last weekend’s match against Northerns. The whole of the second day’s play was rained out, making a result impossible, but Namibia still did enough to edge Northerns in the bonus points race by 8,88 points to 7,92 points.

Northerns were all out for 246 in their first innings, while Namibia were all out for 294 in their first innings before the match was called off.

Namibia’s cricketers beat Northerns by 15 runs in an exciting SAA Cup limited overs match at the Wanderers ground in Windhoek on Sunday. Namibia reached a total of 218 for the loss of nine wickets off their allotted 45 overs, setting Northerns a victory target of 219.

The visitors made a valiant effort to reach Namibia’s total and came close, but in the end they were all out for 203.
Namibia batted first, but got off to a poor start, losing Stephan Swanepoel for three runs and Sarel Burger for 8 to leave Namibia struggling at 17 for two wickets.

Namibia’s young off spinner Bernard Scholtz made a late breakthrough when he dismissed Northerns captain James Mokonyama for 60 just before the close of the first day’s play in their SAA Challenge match on Thursday. Mokonyama and Abram Ndlovu (22 not out) had swung the match Northerns’ way with a 77-run partnership, but Scholtz clean bowled Mokonyama to leave the visitors at 136/5 when rain brought a premature end to the first day’s play.

Opening batsman Stefan Swanepoel makes a return to the Namibian team for this weekend’s SAA Cup match against Northerns, after an absence of more than a year. Swanepoel, who was a regular opening batsman for Namibia, had been unavailable for selection due to work commitments for the whole of last year, but with the World Cup qualifiers coming up in April, Swanepoel has now returned to the game.

Over the weekend he made a good impression at the national trials, scoring 25 from 39 balls on Saturday and then scoring 26 from 57 balls on Sunday.

National cricket trials were held over the weekend as the selectors intensified their search for the final 15 players to represent Namibia at the Cricket World Cup qualifiers which take place in South Africa in April. Two invitational teams played each other in two limited overs matches on Saturday and Sunday and although both matches were disrupted by rain, there were some good performances on both sides.

On Saturday, a Danie Keulder Invitational team batted first, with captain Craig Williams top scoring with 37 runs from 51 balls.