In the first T20 match played in Windhoek on the Namibia Tour, the hosts defeated Zimbabwe (NAM vs ZIM) by 7 wickets with 38 balls remaining. Batting first, Zimbabwe team scored 121/9 in 20 overs, in response to which Namibia won the match by scoring 122/3 in 13.4 overs. Namibia’s Nicholas Davin was named player of the match for his unbeaten innings of 80 runs in 44 balls.
Zimbabwe’s decision to bat first after winning the toss seemed to be completely wrong from the very beginning. Ben Shikongo dismissed opener Nick Welch on the very first ball of the innings. In the second over, the team got its second blow at the score of 2 and captain Craig Erwin was also out without scoring any runs. Innocent Kaiya scored 4 runs and Ryan Burl returned to the pavilion by the fifth over after scoring 14 runs. From here Sikandar Raza added 39 runs for the fifth wicket with Wesley Madhevere (22) and took the team’s score to 61. Some more wickets fell and in the 17th over, Sikandar Raza was also out on the score of 92 after scoring 39 runs in 35 balls. From the lower order, Luke Jongwe scored unbeaten 22 runs to take the team to a respectable score. On behalf of Namibia, captain Gerhard Erasmus did wonders in bowling and took the maximum of three wickets.
While chasing the target, Namibia also had a bad start and in the second over itself, Michael van Lingen became the victim of Richard Ngarwa after scoring 5 runs at the score of 7. Second opener Nicholas Davin along with Gerhard Erasmus (8) took the score beyond 50. Erasmus was out in the sixth over on the score of 53. With the score at 84 in the 11th over, Yan Frylink also departed after scoring 11 runs in 14 balls. From the other end, Devin batted brilliantly and completed his half-century and led his team to victory by scoring unbeaten 80 runs in 44 balls. His innings included eight fours and four sixes.
In this way, Namibia has taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match T20 series. The second match of the series will be played on the same ground on October 25.
