Namibia were expectedly nervous as they lined up for their first Super 12 match against Scotland in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. But at the end of the match, the players were over the moon as the team registered a morale-boosting victory against Scotland.
Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus said his players were delighted for getting another World Cup win after having come through the first round with two wins.
“Delighted to get another World Cup win, we were emotional coming from the first group and we managed to put in another good performance. We’ll be taking some good momentum and energy into the other games,” Erasmus said after the match.
Rubel Trumpelmann’s triple strikes in the opening over followed by an unbeaten 32 from JJ Smit led the way for Namibia to defeat Scotland by four wickets in a Group 2 match.
Trumpelmann claimed 3/17 as Namibia restricted Scotland for 108 and then Smit played his hand as they chased down the target with four wickets to spare.
Asked what he told his players during the break between the two innings as they got ready for the chase, Erasmus said they were not big talkers during the break.
“We speak more beforehand than try and speak during the game (innings break), with that score we had a clear gameplan and luckily with two partnerships we got over the line,” said Erasmus.
The skipper was delighted by the performance of Trumpelmann. “Ruben sets high standards for himself, he hadn’t quite hit the straps earlier. But today he did and he started off well for us to throw the first punch,” he said,
Namibia had a fantastic start as George Munsey chopped on his stumps off Trumpelmann on the first ball of the innings. Trumpelmann then made back-to-back strikes on the fourth and fifth ball of the innings. While Calum MacLeod nicked one behind, stand-in captain Richie Berrington was trapped lbw to a full in-swinger.
Trumpelmann hoped they could manage a few more wins in the tournament. “Good result and hopefully we can get a few more. Luckily it went my way today. The victory is for the team and it’s massive for us.”
It was Namibia’s first-ever win in the Super 12 stage of the mega event, going ahead of India and New Zealand while Scotland remain at the bottom of the points table for Group 2.
