Coetzee leads Namibia to victory

A great all-round display by Jano Coetzee put Namibia on the path to a 23-run victory against Canada at the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in UAE on Monday.

Coetzee top scored for Namibia with 73 runs in their total of 263 for nine wickets, and then took three wickets for 37 runs as Canada was dismissed for 240 off 47,3 overs.

Namibia’s victory enabled them to qualify for the 13th place playoff where they will meet Scotland today.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Namibia got off to a solid start as Joshuan Julius and Zane Green put on 40 for the first wicket before Julius was out for 19.

Malan Kruger joined Green and the two put Namibia in control with a 93-run partnership for the second wicket.

Both batsmen were dismissed for 57, with Green’s coming off 77 balls and Kruger’s off 62 balls, and when JP Kotze was run out for seven, Namibia had reached 157 for four wickets with 15 overs remaining.

Jano Coetzee pushed up the tempo as he regularly found the boundary with a fine innings. He added 38 runs with Gerhard Erasmus, who was dismissed for 19, and 36 runs with SJ Loftie-Eaton (out for 13 runs) as Namibia reached 231 for six wickets with four overs remaining.

JJ Smit (0) and Bredell Wessels (4) were dismissed cheaply but Coetzee continued his onslaught before he was run out off the second last ball of the innings, for a top score of 73 runs which came off 50 balls and included five fours and three sixes.

MP Delport added four and JJ Brand one as Namibia reached their highest total of the tournament – 263 for nine wickets off 50 overs.

Namibia got off to a great start when MP Delport trapped Canadian opener Sudeepta Aurka for a duck with the second ball of the innings.

Although opener Yug Rao got Canada’s innings back on track with a fighting innings, Namibia’s bowlers kept up the pressure with regular wickets.

JJ Smit dismissed Nitish Kumar for 24, while Coetzee dismissed Nikhil Dutta for 28 and Tahla Shaikh for 27 to reduce Canada to 133 for four wickets off 32 overs.

Rao went on to a top score of 66 before he was dismissed by Wessels, and although there were good contributions from Keenen Tinto (23) and Trevor Manoosingh (30 off 18 balls), it was not enough as the whole team was out for 240 with 15 balls remaining.

Coetzee was Namibia’s best bowler with 3/37, while JJ Smit took 2/49 and Bredell Wessels 2/57.

Namibia will now meet Scotland in the 13th place playoff match on Monday, after Scotland beat Papua New Guinea by 77 runs on Tuesday.