Namibia upset Ireland in World T20 qualifier

Namibia began its race to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 in style when it defeated the number-two ranked side, Ireland, by four runs in its Group B fixture at the ICC Global Cricket Academy Oval 2, Dubai Sports City on Wednesday.

Defending champions Afghanistan beat Papua New Guinea by six wickets in Group A after a fine half-century by Mohammad Nabi, Nepal’s Paras Khadka led his side to victory over Hong Kong by 28 runs, the Netherlands beat Canada by 42 runs, while Bermuda lost to Denmark by seven wickets after a Freddie Klokker half-century in other matches.

In Group B’s other fixtures Michael Di Venuto and Peter Petricola helped Italy crush Oman by nine wickets, Uganda won by four wickets against United States of America and Kenya suffered its first defeat, losing to Scotland by 14 runs.

At the ICC Global Cricket Academy Oval 2, a good all-round performance by Louis Van Der Westhuizen helped Namibia cause the first upset of the tournament.

Van Der Westhuizen first scored 34 runs to help Namibia reach 160-8 and then claimed two for 37 to restrict tournament favourites Ireland to 156-9 which not only earned a famous victory for his side but also meant he walked away with the man of the match award.

Van der Westhuizen said: “It went really well. I saw the ball clearly and the team had a really good vibe. It always helps when the team spirits are up and playing Ireland is always a really big game. It is good to play the biggest team on the opening day and it is great to get a win against them.

“Namibia can be quite an unpredictable team, but when it comes off then we can beat anybody. The biggest challenge for us will be to be consistent throughout the event and keep up our performance levels.”

Apart from Van Der Westhuizen, Raymond Van Schoor (31), Sarel Burger (21) and Craig Williams (19) were the other main run-getters for Namibia while Paul Stirling and George Dockrell equally shared six wickets between them, conceding 20 and 26 runs, respectively.

In its target chase, Ireland slumped to 65-5 in the 11th over before Gary Wilson (49) and John Mooney (38) put their side back on track by adding 71 runs for the sixth wicket off 44 balls.

In the last over, Ireland needed 18 runs and ended up four runs short after managing 13 runs, including two fours.

Ireland coach Phil Simmons said: “I don’t think we underestimated Namibia today, we don’t underestimate any team we face. We didn’t start well in the game and allowed Namibia to score too many runs in the first six overs which proved to be a deciding factor and therefore we struggled.

"Everything needs to improve from tomorrow as we are not where we need to be in every aspect of our game for this event and that improvement has to start now.”

Simmons struggled to find a pleasing aspect to Ireland’s performance but admitted: “I think the only pleasing part of the day for us was the partnership between John Mooney and Gary Wilson which got us back into the game but we didn’t take the chances we needed to in order to finish things off.”

Scores in brief

Group A

Papua New Guinea 112-6, 20 overs (Jason Kila 28; Dawlat Zadran 2-20)

Afghanistan 113-4, 19 overs (Mohammad Nabi 52 not out; Rarua Dikana 2-23)

Result: Afghanistan won by six wickets

Man of the match: Mohammad Nabi (Afg)

Netherlands 134-6, 20 overs (Tom Cooper 29, Alexei Kervezee 29, Mudassar Bukhari 28 n.o.; Harvir Baidwan 3-29)

Canada 93 all out, 16.4 overs (Jimmy Hansra 30; Mudassar Bukhari 2-22, Pieter Seelaar 3-16)

Result: Netherlands won by 43 runs

Man of the match: Mudassar Bukhari (Netherlands)

Nepal 130-6, 20 overs (Paras Khadka 68, Gyanendra Malla 26; Muniro Dar 3-15)

Hong Kong 100-9, 20 overs (Nizakat Khan 31; Chandra Sawad 4-23, Shakti Gauchan 2-11, Basant Regmi 2-18)

Result: Nepal won by 30 runs

Man of the match: Paras Khadka (Nepal)

Bermuda 116-7, 20 overs (Dion Stovell 56, David Hemp 36; Sair Anjum 2-15)

Denmark 117-3, 19.1 overs (Freddie Klokker 50, Rizwan Mahmood 47 n.o.; Dion Stovell 1-20)

Result: Denmark won by seven wickets

Man of the Match: Freddie Klokker (Denmark)

Group B

Namibia 160-8, 20 overs (Louis Van Der Westhuizen 34, Raymond Van Schoor 31, Sarel Burger 21, Craig Williams 19; Paul Stirling 3-20, George Dockrell 3-20, Alex Cusack 2-26)

Ireland 156-9 (Gary Wilson 49, John Mooney 38, Kevin O’Brien 20; Louis Van Der Westhuizen 2-37)

Result: Namibia won by four runs

Man of the match: Louis Van Der Westhuizen (Namibia)

Oman 89-9, 20 overs (Sultan Ahmed 16, Carl Sandri 4-9, Gareth Berg 2-22)

Italy 90-1, 14 overs (Michael De Venuto 42 not out; Peter Petricola 39 not out)

Result: Italy won by nine wickets

Man of the match:  Carl Sandri (Italy)

USA 123-8 in 20 overs (Sushil Nadkarni 38, Adil Bhatti 21; Jonathan Sebanja 2-32, Roger Mukasa 2-14)

Uganda 124-6 in 19.2 overs (Frank Nsubunga 30, Davis Arinaitwe 27 n.o.; Muhammad Ghous 2-16)

Result: Uganda won by four wickets

Man of the match: Davis Arinaitwe (Uganda)

Scotland 178-7, 20 overs (Calum MacLeod 55, Kyle Coetzer 46; James Ngoche 2-31)

Kenya 164 all out, 20 overs (Collins Obuya 50; Gordon Drummond 3-50, Majid Haq 2-32)

Result: Scotland won by 14 runs

Man of the match: Calum MacLeod (Scotland)

Wednesday’s matches

Ireland v Kenya (1000-1300), Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Sports City

Canada v PNG (1000-1300), Global Cricket Academy No.1, Dubai Sports City

Hong Kong v Bermuda (1000-1300), Global Cricket Academy No.2, Dubai Sports City

Italy v USA (1000-1300), Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Afghanistan v Netherlands (1400-1700), Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai Sports City

Denmark v Nepal (1400-1700), Global Cricket Stadium No.1, Dubai Sports City

Uganda v Oman (1400-1700), Global cricket Academy No.2, Dubai Sports City

Scotland v Namibia (1400-1700), Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi