This is the first time in their history that Namibia has taken part in the first round of the T20 World Cup. The African country has made history by upgrading in the Super Twelve of the World Cup by beating Ireland.
Namibia beat Ireland by eight wickets in an unannounced knockout match on Friday. With this victory, Namibia became the second team from the ‘A’ group to reach the main stage of the World Cup.
Earlier, Sri Lanka became the first team to reach the Super Twelve from this group with two wins in a row.
The goal was not too big. Namibia needed only 126 runs to win. They batted carefully for this target. In the beginning, the pace of the run was a bit slow. Namibia scored only 27 runs in 6 overs.
However, Namibia gradually overcame the slow-moving picture. Captain Gerhard Erasmus did great with the bat. He played a remarkable innings of 53 runs. He was accompanied by David Wise. Namibia reached the destination with 9 balls in hand in the responsible batting of two batsmen.
Earlier, after winning the toss, Ireland scored 125 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Ireland started quite carefully with the bat. Two openers, Paul Sterling and Cavin O’Brien, gave the Irish a good start. In the opening pair, the two made 62 runs. Even after such a good start, the Irish could not increase the speed of the run.
When the two openers dismissed, the speed of the Irish runs decreased. Paul Sterling returned for 38 in the eighth over. He had 5 boundaries and one six in his innings off 24 balls. When Sterling returned, O’Brien dismissed in the very next over. He stopped for 25 off 24 balls.
Sometimes Irish opener Andy put up some resistance. But he could not add more than 21 runs to the scoreboard. The Irish saw only disappointment after the return of the three batsmen. As a result, Ireland could not build a big total.
Ireland, Namibia, the Netherlands and Sri Lanka have played in Group A of the qualifying round. Sri Lanka have secured the Super Twelve of the T20 World Cup with two wins in a row from this group.
This time Namibia as the second team confirmed for the super twelve round. Farewell to the Netherlands and Ireland. The Netherlands did not see a win in this group.
The first round match of the World Cup is going to end today. The fight for Super Twelve will start from Saturday.
News Room, October 22,2021