In the second T20 match played in Windhoek, Zimbabwe won the match by 5 wickets on the last ball in a thrilling match against Namibia (NAM vs ZIM). Playing first, Namibia scored 198/3 in 20 overs, in reply Zimbabwe won the match by scoring 200/5 in 20 overs and leveled the five-match T20 series 1-1. Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza was named player of the match for his unbeaten innings of 82 runs in 35 balls.
Zimbabwe won the toss and decided to field first but Namibia had a good start. The pair of Michael van Lingen and Nicholas Devlin gave a explosive start of 108 runs in 9.3 overs for the first wicket. Van Lingen scored 67 runs in 37 balls with the help of ten fours and three sixes before being dismissed in the 10th over. From here Devlin got the support of captain Gerhard Erasmus and both took the score to 166. Erasmus scored 38 runs in 28 balls with the help of five fours, while Devin scored 60 runs in 44 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes. JJ Smit scored unbeaten 25 runs in 11 balls and took the team’s score close to 200. Ryan Burl and Tendai Chatara took one wicket each for Zimbabwe.
Chasing the target, Zimbabwe got its first blow in the fifth over and Nick Welch returned to the pavilion on the score of 32 after scoring 25 runs in 19 balls. Innocent Kaia along with captain Craig Erwin (10) took the score beyond 50. Erwin was out on the score of 56 in the ninth over, while Kaiya, after scoring 37 runs in 30 balls, became the victim of Yan Nicole Lofty-Eaton on the score of 76 in the 11th over.
From here Sikandar Raza took the lead and added 35 runs with Ryan Burl (7) for the fourth wicket and 55 runs with Wesley Madhevere (23) for the fifth wicket. Madhevere’s wicket fell at the score of 167 in the 18th over but Sikandar Raza stood firm and made an unbeaten partnership of 33 runs in just 15 balls with Clive Madande (5) for the sixth wicket, leading his team to victory. Zimbabwe had to score 18 runs to win in the last over and 15 runs came from the first five balls, Sikandar Raza hit a four on the last ball and gave his team a thrilling victory. He played an unbeaten inning of 82 runs in 35 balls with the help of three fours and nine sixes.
In the five-match series, both the teams have so far won one match each after the first two matches. The third match will be played on the same ground on 27th October.
