| ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, Abu Dhabi |
| Scotland 109-8 (20 overs): Leask 44 (27); Trumpelmann 3-17, Frylinck 2-10 |
| Namibia 115-6 (19.1 overs): Smit 32* (23), Leask 2-12 |
| Namibia won by four wickets |
| Scorecard |
Namibia held their nerve to beat Scotland by four wickets in the final over of a tense Super 12s match at the Men’s T20 World Cup.
Namibia, who like Scotland are competing at this stage for the first time, stuttered in their chase of 110 but sneaked home with five balls to spare in Abu Dhabi.
They were 67-4 at one stage and their scoring ground to a halt as two more wickets fell late on, but JJ Smit hit an unbeaten 32 from 23 balls to seal victory with a six over point.
Scotland were left ruing a horror start with the bat before they limped to 109-8, largely thanks to Michael Leask’s 27-ball 44.
George Munsey was bowled by the first ball of the match and Scotland were 2-3 when Ruben Trumpelmann took two more wickets in the opening over.
Humbled by Afghanistan in their opening Super 12 game, Scotland face New Zealand, India and Pakistan in their remaining Group 2 fixtures.
Namibia had never won a World Cup match before this tournament but can now add this triumph to the historic victories against the Netherlands and Ireland which took them through the qualifying round.
Namibia break more new ground
Namibia came into the game as slight underdogs, ranked 16th in the world to Scotland’s 12th, but, despite their wobble with the bat, ended the match posing for photographs after another landmark victory.
When their captain Gerhard Erasmus was bowled by left-arm spinner Leask and opener Craig Williams was stumped down the leg side off Mark Watt in the 12th and 13th overs respectively, there was an outside chance of a Scotland victory.
But Smit remained calm, even when David Wiese fell for 16 with eight still needed.
In truth, Namibia won the game through Trumpelmann’s opening burst.
The fiery left-arm seamer found swing and utilised it well. After Munsey played on, Calum MacLeod edged behind and Richie Berrington – Scotland’s stand-in captain with Kyle Coetzer sidelined by a finger injury – was lbw to a ball that nipped back.
Leask’s hard-hitting innings, which included four fours and two leg-side sixes, rescued Scotland from a repeat of their 60 all out against Afghanistan.
He also took 2-12. Had Scotland mustered another 20 runs, their bowling display may have been enough.
‘A very proud moment’ – reaction
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus: “It’s been emotional coming through the group stage. We put those emotions away for a bit. The boys put in an excellent performance.
“It’s a very proud moment and we’ll savour with the small group of people here and all the Namibians back home. It’s a small but proud country.”
Scotland stand-in captain Richie Berrington: “It’s been a disappointing day for us. We were probably 20 or 30 runs short. It’s pretty hard to recover after a first over like that.
“Credit to Namibia. They put us under pressure. We struggled to recover and couldn’t get the score in the first innings.”
Player of the match Ruben Trumpelmann: “I really enjoyed myself out there. It’s awesome under the lights. It’s the World Cup so why not enjoy it?
“This victory means a lot for the team. Hopefully we’ll get a few more. This is massive for us.”
