New Zealand inches near to the semis with a 52 run win over Namibia

New Zealand beat Namibia by a staggering 52 runs. This margin takes them over Afghanistan to the 2nd position in the group A points table.

This means New Zealand is one win away from securing their semi-final spot.

In reply to New Zealand’s target of 164, Namibian openers had a confident start. In the face of Tim Southee and Trent Boult’s lethal deliveries, both of them kept their cool and went for the bad deliveries only.

Van Lingen and SJ Baard shared a partnership of 47 off 43 balls, giving them a steady platform to go forward. Jimmy Neesham shattered Van Lingen’s (25 off 25 balls) stumps as Van tried to slog him across the line. Santner cleaned SJ Baard (21 off 22) up with a mesmerizing turning off-spinner. 

Ish Sodhi came into the scene on the 10th over and picked Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus (3 off 4 balls) with a low leggie. Conway took a brilliant catch to send the opposition captain back to the dugout.

Ish Sodhi was hit on the head by David Wiese while he tried to take a return catch. He seemed okay and got on his feet after a short concussion test by the physios.

David Wiese’s short stint finished when Southee trapped him for a leg before wicket on the 15th over. Zane green and J Smit was left with a required run rate of 15.55 runs per over.

Namibian middle-order crashed down like a pack of cards to the fiery deliveries of Trent Boult and Tim Southee.

Boult and Southee took 2 wickets each at the end with economical figures. 

Earlier in New Zealand’s innings, Martin Guptill and Daryl Mitchell got off to a decent start. Martin Guptill(18 off 18) was dismissed by David Wiese early in the innings.

Daryl Mitchell (19 off29) fell off to B. Scholtz in an attempt to slog the ball only to be caught at cover. Kane Williamson scored a quickfire 28 off 25 before being bowled by Namibian captain MG Erasmus. Dave Conway( 17 off 18) was run out to a brilliant throw from Erasmus.

Jimmy Neesham And Glenn Phillips started off slowly. Both of them took over David Wiese’s 17th over for a humongous 21 runs.

Neesham ended up with 25 off 23 deliveries whereas Glenn Phillips scored 39 off only 21 balls. The duo shared a crucial partnership of 76 runs to see the Blackcaps with a handsome score on the board on a very slow surface.

New Zealand innings settled at 163-4 even after a shaky start and top-order failure.

Jimmy Neesham was picked as the Man of the Match for his all-round performance of 35*(23) with the bat and a figure of 1-0-6-1 with the ball.

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