The nicest thing about World Cups is that they allow tiny nations to show their spirit and dignity at the highest level while simultaneously allowing the best to compete against the best. They may or may not surprise major teams, but these victories are extremely important to them. Both teams’ emotions, albeit dissimilar, convey a thousand stories. As a result, Sri Lanka and Namibia will represent Group A. We have one more game coming up soon, so keep an eye out for us. The Super-12s begin tomorrow, and the cricket season will only get better from there. In a few minutes, you’ll be seeing Sri Lanka take against the Netherlands. Cheers!!
Gerhard Erasmus Namibia skipper
We mentioned in the previous news conference that we are running a tight ship, and I believe we are extremely proud of ourselves for being such a little cricketing nation. I believe this is a tremendous accomplishment, and I believe we should be proud of ourselves tonight. I rely on my senior players (Wiese) to step up when the stakes are high in a game like this, and two of us did so tonight, and maybe we can do so throughout the tournament. Not yet (has it dawned on you yet? ), perhaps on the way home, tomorrow, or at the end of the tournament.
Andy Balbirnie Ireland captain
It’s really painful. It’ll be difficult to get through this one. We wanted runs on the board, and we probably didn’t get enough. After the start we received, we wanted more. But, certainly, it’ll take a long for it to go gone. We’ve put in a lot of effort to get to this stage. We performed admirably, but they outperformed us on the day. Wiese stepped in and played a magnificent hand; the rate was about 8-8.5, and their captain produced a brilliant knock to put his team through. There are a number of talented cricketers in there who deserved to advance to the next round, but that’s the way it goes.
David Wiese Player of the Match
It’s utterly debilitating. After the way Erasmus batted, I didn’t believe I’d earn this honour. It was a captain’s innings to remember. I accept it, but I believe it belongs to him. The lads have put a lot of effort into this. There were a few little hiccups, but it was an excellent performance altogether.
Andy Balbirnie sighs, his cheeks flushed with sadness. David Wiese is being surrounded by his teammates after receiving a loving hug from Albie Morkel. If you want to know why this pursuit and victory are so unique, look at the 15th over of the chase, where Wiese single-handedly buried the chase with back-to-back sixes, never allowing Ireland to recover. Though Wiese acknowledged at the presentation that “his partner Erasmus earned the Player of the Match award,” it was Wiese’s all-around performance that enabled Namibia advance to the next level. He hit a 40-ball 66 in the previous game against the Netherlands, and he deserves a large part of the credit for his team’s outstanding performance in this tournament thus far. Sharjah hasn’t been the easiest of tracks to bat on in recent weeks, and despite conceding 55 runs in the opening six overs, Namibia found ways to recover with the ball, and the chase has been nothing short of spectacular. They smashed 13 twos, which is equivalent to striking six vital boundaries on this track, and Wiese’s power ultimately proved too much for Ireland. Their preparations were plainly disrupted by the loss of Adair with the ball due to injury, but they also failed to score enough runs, which severely harmed their prospects.
Ireland Innings
BATTING
R
B
M
4s
6s
SR
Paul Stirling
c Loftie-Eaton b Scholtz
38
24
34
5
1
158.33
Kevin O’Brien
c van Lingen b Frylinck
25
24
40
2
0
104.16
Andy Balbirnie (c)
lbw b Frylinck
21
28
41
2
0
75.00
Gareth Delany
b Wiese
9
18
23
0
0
50.00
Curtis Campher
b Frylinck
4
5
14
0
0
80.00
Harry Tector
c †Green b Wiese
8
6
8
1
0
133.33
Neil Rock †
b Smit
5
5
10
0
0
100.00
Mark Adair
run out (Wiese)
5
5
12
0
0
100.00
Simi Singh
not out
5
4
9
0
0
125.00
Craig Young
not out
1
1
3
0
0
100.00
Extras
(lb 1, w 3)
4
TOTAL
(20 Ov, RR: 6.25)
125/8
BOWLING
O
M
R
W
ECON
0s
4s
6s
WD
NB
Ruben Trumpelmann
3
0
18
0
6.00
7
1
0
1
0
David Wiese
4
0
22
2
5.50
10
2
0
0
0
JJ Smit
4
0
27
1
6.75
6
0
1
0
0
Bernard Scholtz
3
0
25
1
8.33
5
4
0
0
0
Jan Frylinck
4
0
21
3
5.25
11
2
0
1
0
Pikky Ya France
2
0
11
0
5.50
5
1
0
1
0
Namibia Innings
BATTING
R
B
M
4s
6s
SR
Craig Williams
c O’Brien b Campher
15
16
24
3
0
93.75
Zane Green †
c O’Brien b Campher
24
32
64
1
0
75.00
Gerhard Erasmus (c)
not out
53
49
68
3
1
108.16
David Wiese
not out
28
14
26
1
2
200.00
Extras
(b 1, lb 1, w 4)
6
TOTAL
(18.3 Ov, RR: 6.81)
126/2
BOWLING
O
M
R
W
ECON
0s
4s
6s
WD
NB
Josh Little
4
0
22
0
5.50
11
2
0
2
0
Craig Young
3.3
0
33
0
9.42
10
3
2
0
0
Mark Adair
1.4
0
12
0
7.20
4
2
0
0
0
Curtis Campher
3
0
14
2
4.66
7
0
0
0
0
Kevin O’Brien
2.2
0
15
0
6.42
3
1
0
0
0
Simi Singh
4
0
28
0
7.00
8
0
1
2
0
Match Info
Toss
Ireland, elected to bat first
Series
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup,Namibia tour of United Arab Emirates
