Big win for USA in Qualifier Play-off opener after Namibia slip-up
Cricket
Five down for less than 100, USA were staring down the barrel.
USA eased to a 81-run win after Namibia suffered a batting collapse on the opening day of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier Play-off.
USA were rattled early on in their innings, when pacer Ben Shikongo dismissed Steven Taylor and Monak Patel in the second over. After this, Sushant Modani and Aaron Jones adopted a watchful approach as the side sought to rebuild.
After seeing off the new ball spells of Shikongo and Ruben Trumpelmann, they looked to up the scoring rate. However, both batters fell to aggressive shots and by the 20th over, USA were 87/4.
Namibia tightened their grasp over the game in the 23rd over when a returning Trumpelmann bowled an absolute ripper which came in and uprooted Shayan Jahangir’s stumps.
Five down for less than 100, USA were staring down the barrel.
From there, important contributions from Gajanand Singh (53), Jessy Singh (33) and Nosthush Kenjige (43) helped USA cross 200. USA reached 231, courtesy an erratic 25-run final over from Shikongo.
Namibia had an eerily similar start to USA, losing Nikolaas Davin and Michael van Lingen in the second over off the bowling of Ali Khan. Skipper Gerhard Erasmus and Shaun Fouché stitched together a cautious 51-run partnership for the third wicket to stabilize the Namibian innings, but USA struck back by dismissing Erasmus in the 19th over.
Fouché (55) tried to keep the Eagles afloat, getting some decent support from Jan Loftie-Eaton (38) but USA kept chipping away with wickets at regular intervals.
After Ali dismissed Loftie-Eaton to leave Namibia at 115/4, the tournament hosts suffered a collapse and lost their next six wickets for merely 35 runs. Ali (3/21) and Nisarg Patel (3/28) starred with the ball for USA.
The Qualifier Play-offs will determine the two sides who will make it to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifiers due to be played in Zimbabwe. That event will see 10 sides fight it out for the final two World Cup spots.
The event will see its first double fixture tomorrow. Papua New Guinea will face off against United Arab Emirates, while Jersey will feature against Canada.
