Namibia A unbeaten on Botswana tour

Cricket Namibia’s A side has recently returned from a highly successful tour to Botswana. A week after their junior side dominated the eastern neighbours, the Namibian Eagles made light work of Botswana. They won their ODI encounter by 105 runs on the first day and followed that up with a T20 win as well as another ODI success.

In the two team’s first 50 over match, Namibia won the toss and elected to bat first. A solid partnership between Helao Ya France (54 off 101 balls) and Zane Green (80 off 87 balls) quickly piled the pressure on the hosts.

After Ya France was caught and Green stumped, Lohan Louwrens stepped up to the plate to add a fantastic 65 off 56 balls before he was caught.

With the help of Malan Kruger (24 off 30) and Walter Fokkens (22 off 24), Namibia reached 263 runs in their allotted 50 overs.

Botswana never really looked like they could seriously threaten their Namibian counterparts. Rashaad Mosweu was their best batsman with 41 off 63 balls, but the rest of the batting order never really lived up to expectations as the home side managed a mere 158 all out, crashing to a 105-run defeat at the Botswana Cricket Oval.

In their T20 encounter, Botswana won the toss and elected to bat first. Opening batsman Faizal Rana Rasheed was run-out after only five balls with no runs to his name, while John Mokokwe soon followed, dismissed for six.

Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, with John Mokokwe (30) being Botswana’s only player to reach double figures. Their innings was cut short after Botswana’s last wicket fell at just 15.4 overs.

Colin Peak was Namibia’s stand-out bowler, with his leg spin proving too good for the opposition, returning figures of 3 for 4 in 1,4 overs.

Nian Grobler and Steven Berry kicked-off Namibia’s innings with 22 runs off 14 balls. After they were bowled and caught respectively, Jason Bandlow (12) and Nico Davin (26) continued the chase which was completed by Colin Peak (2) and Bredell Wessels (4) to give Namibia a 6-wicket win.

In the second ODI encounter, Botswana got off to a good start as Rashaad Mosweu scored 39 off 56 balls, while Rashaad Mosweu added 11 off 35.

Faizal Rana Rasheed was dismissed for a duck but Nabil Master and Sooraj Kolley rebuilt the innings with respective scores of 64 and 30 runs.

However, after that, Namibia’s bowlers – led by MP Delport, Nian Grobler and Bredell Wessells who took two wickets each – made light work of their rivals batting order.

Helao Ya France started off Namibia’s chase with 38 off 36 balls before he was caught. Lohan Louwrens added 39 off 50, while Shalako Groenewald and Nico Davin both reached 20 runs. Walter Fokkens (29 not out) and Bredell Wessells (33 not out) completed the chase in superb style. – Proactive