The UAE defeated Namibia by seven runs in their first-ever Twenty20 World Cup game on Thursday, sending the Netherlands into the tournament’s Super 12. If the Africans had won, they would have joined Sri Lanka in the next round instead of the Dutch, but the UAE held them to 141-8 as they chased 149 for victory.
UAE defeated Namibia by 7 runs | ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022
Namibia’s openers were lost early, with Stephan Baard getting a thick edge off Junaid Siddique and Ahmed Raza collecting the catch, followed by Michael van Lingen being caught on the ropes. They were 16-2 after three overs and had their work cut out for them when Jan Nicol Lofti-Eaton was out lbw on review two overs later, handing India-born Hameed a second wicket. Namibia was 46-5 when skipper Gerhard Erasmus was bowled by Karthik Meiyappan, who had a hat-trick against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, and JJ Smit was run out.
Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (c), Michael van Lingen, Divan la Cock, Stephan Baard, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green (wk), Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo
United Arab Emirates: Chundangapoyil Rizwan (c), Chirag Suri, Muhammad Waseem, Aryan Lakra, Basil Hameed, Vriitya Aravind (wk), Kashif Daud, Aayan Afzal Khan, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Zahoor Khan.
