Namibia all-rounder David Wiese said he was happy to contribute to his side’s come-from-behind win over the Netherlands at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday. He added that he wanted to prove his worth and have a good impression in his first tournament with Namibia.
“It’s definitely up there in terms of just it’s always nice to see it through to the end to make sure you get your team over the line. Like I said, leading into the tournament, it’s my first tournament playing for Namibia, so you always want to make a good impression and show the guys and prove your worth. It’s been a bit of a lean patch for me leading into this tournament, so I’m just happy to be able to contribute to the team today and get it over the line and get the win for the team,” said Wiese in the post-match press conference.
Chasing 165, Namibia were 52/3 in 8.2 overs. Wiese shared a counter-attacking stand of 93 runs in 51 balls with captain Gerhard Erasmus en route of an unbeaten 66 off 40 balls to take Namibia over the line for their first-ever win in the men’s T20 World Cup. Apart from his knock, Wiese also scalped the wicket of Roelof van der Merwe.
“When we got in there, we were a little bit behind the eight ball, and the momentum was with them. We had to take a bit of a punt there to get one or two big overs to try and get the win. Lucky for us it paid off. We decided to take it down with the wind type play, but smart in that aspect, and it just worked out for us today,” said Wiese on being asked about the approach for the chase.
Asked about how he adapted to the pitch while leading the way for Namibia with the bat, Wiese, who previously represented South Africa, explained, “I think it’s a wicket where you need to take your time a little bit more to get in just to get used to the pace. It skids a little bit more. Most of the wickets in the UAE do skid through a little bit more. It’s a little more difficult to start off quite quickly.”
“So you’ve just got to take a little bit of that pressure and give yourself a bit of time and know that the boundaries, the ball flies over your head, there’s always a wind that’s pushing towards the boundary. Once you take your time and you get in, you can always catch up towards the end.”
Talking about the importance of the win in Namibia cricket, Wiese termed it ‘massive’. “It’s the first ever win for Namibia in the T20 World Cup. It’s a proud nation. Namibia is a passionate nation. They love sport there. To be able to give this one back to the fans, especially after our subpar performance against Sri Lanka the other night, just to come back in a performance like this and still keep our hopes up in the tournament.”
“We’ve got one more game left against Ireland. If we can pull off a win over there, we could find ourself in the next stage of the tournament, which would be absolutely amazing for Namibia cricket,” signed off Wiese.
