David Wiese, through his all-around performance, propelled the debutant Namibia to beat Ireland by eight wickets in its final match of the first round and confirm its perch in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup on Friday.
Namibia, with two wins from three matches, has joined Sri Lanka in the Super 12 stage from Group A while Ireland, Netherlands are eliminated.
Gerhard Erasmus has topped the scorecard for Namibia with a 49-ball 53 not out while David Wiese contributed 28 not out as they chased down the target of 126 with nine balls to spare.
Namibia had earlier beaten the Netherlands by six wickets.
Earlier, Namibian bowlers made a strong comeback after Ireland made a brisk start to restrict it to a modest 125 for 8.
For Ireland, Paul Stirling top-scored with a 24-ball 38 and shared 62 runs off just 44 balls with Kevin O’Brien (25) for the opening stand.
Jan Frylinck (3/21) was the pick of the bowlers for Namibia, while Wiese (2/22) also snared two wickets.
The Ireland team has been great at global tournaments, always making the neutrals root for them, but Namibia has produced their greatest moment in the history of their cricket today. A historic day. Namibia now moves to the group that has India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Scotland, and Afghanistan.
Post-match Press Conference
In the post-match press conference, the winning captain Gerhard Erasmus said that the team ran a tight ship. Small country, a small number of people play cricket. We should be proud of ourselves. He added that he count on his senior men to stand up when the pressure is on. And that two of them did it tonight.
Ashish Ranjan said “Weise and Morkel – when they hugged each other, the emotion on their face was visible even though they were not expressing it outright. The relief was there of achieving a goal of reaching the Super 12.”
The player of the match David Wiese said, “It’s completely overwhelming. I don’t think I deserve to be sitting here. I think captain Gerhard Erasmus deserves to be Man of the Match. This is really his moment and the rest of the team has put in so much work before now to be here. I’ve played in Sharjah a few times and know the wicket deteriorates to suit my bowling a bit more.”
