After playing many relatively meaningless пфьуы for the international audience, Associate nations Scotland and Namibia featured in the big stages in their Group 1 encounter on Wednesday. A superb bowling performance from Ruben Trumplemann ate up the Scottish batting, as Namibia posted a comfortable victory.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus won the toss and decided to put the Scots into bat, at the Sheikh Zayed stadium at Abu Dhabi. That turned out to be an absolutely brilliant choice as fast bowler Ruben Trumplemann ripped apart the Scotland top-order, picking up three wickets in the very first over, a huge record in itself.
As the Scots were reeling at 18/4 after the powerplay, Namibia continued the pressing bowling with all-rounder David Wiese bowling a few tight overs. Scotland made it to 57 before Wiese picked up Craig Wallace, after a struggling time in the middle.
The task of salvaging the Scottish innings fell on the shoulders of the experienced Michael Leask, who along with Chris Greaves, stitched together somewhat of a partnership to ensure that the Scots reached the 100-run mark. Leask’s excellent knock in the circumstances, of 44 in 27, took Scotland to the not-so-embarrassing total of 109/8 at the end of 20 overs.
The Namibian innings started off pretty well, with the openers getting a decent start, before Michael van Lingen was dismissed by Safyaan Sharif in the final over of the powerplay.The Namibians were on track for a convincing victory as they ended the powerplay at a moderate 29/1.
The middle overs produced some drama, as the Scots picked up a few wickets, to mount some pressure on the Namibian batsmen. Chris Greaves and Michael Leask bowled some good overs, as they brought down the Namibians to a dangerous 67/4, with the outside chance of Scotland staging a late comeback.
However, the experience of veteran David Wiese along with JJ Smit’s timely innings ensured that the Namibia innings didn’t collapse. Smit’s 32-run cameo, which included two fours and two sixes, ultimately brought up Namibia’s victory over the Scots, as the innings stretched to the final over. Smit sealed the victory off the first ball of the final over as played a slice over the point region for six.
Unsurprisingly, Ruben Trumplemann’s splendid bowling display earned him a well-deserved man of the match award, as well as a place in the history books, for his performance in the first over of the game, as Namibia beat Scotland in the battle of the minnows.
Brief Scores
Scotland – 109/8 in 20 overs (Leask – 44(27), Trumplemann- 3/17)
Namibia- 115/6 in 19.1 overs (JJ Smit – 32*(23), Wiese – 16(14), Leask- 2/12)
Namibia beat Scotland by six wickets with five balls to spare.
