As the first match of this tri-series is finally over, Namibia pulled off another upset, becoming the second time in a row they’ve beaten South Africa on their home fortress. Despite many still thinking the Proteas were heavy favorites going into this game, Namibia slowly proved they can no longer be slept on, and they have now beaten a 4th full-time ICC member after already defeating Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe in the past.
With the chemistry slowly coming together for this unit and them clicking at the right moment, this was the perfect victory to start off the series and have a massive advantage. Captain Gerhard Erasmus provided a lot once again, while showing that he has found a clear path to beat their neighboring rivals.
Meanwhile, it was quite a disappointment for South Africa even though a lot of their major pieces weren’t playing. Hoping their younger unit would show up, since this is what will potentially lead the way in 4-5 years, they ended up falling short of expectations once again and really have this team questioning whether they are really prepared for the future.
After already losing last year, a lot of those same players didn’t learn their lesson and took it lightly once again, which has put immense pressure on them now. Led by Bjorn Fortuin as the captain, he could be in line of losing that position if these performances keep becoming consistent, and South Africa could look another to change their squad.
Namibia: Top-Order Carried A Huge Load In This Match
For Namibia, their batsmen up top had a major impact in why they were able to cross the 160 mark and really give a great score to defend. When looking at the openers, Loureen Steenkamp was a huge part of the 84-run opening stand, as he smashed 41 runs on 29 balls and also hit 5 combined boundaries, including two massive sixes.
On the other end, Jan Frylinck was very important in his constant approach that has made him a threat from the other side, while he also added 40+ runs before losing Steenkamp at 84/1. While Frylinck was continuing to go, captain Gerhard Erasmus came in and created a combined score of over 30 runs which got them near the 120 range.
At this moment, though, Namibia ended up losing their 2nd wicket with Frylinck going for 60 runs and 8 combined boundaries. With Nicol-Loftie-Eaton kind of having a rough day at the crease as he departed early for only 4 runs, Gerhard Erasmus was the next big man to leave after helping Namibia hit 133. With Zane Green and JJ Smit also losing their wicket in quick fashion, it took a key partnership from Alexander Busing-Volschenck and Ruben Trumpelmann, 12 runs with one big six, for this Namibia unit to get towards 157. While, they still kept missing out on key batters down the order, they navigated their way to finish at 163/9.
South Africa: Bowling Had A Very Up And Down Day
When looking at this Proteas bowling attack, the whole unit didn’t play at a consistent level which caused the score to be much higher than it should have. The star pacer today was Duan Jansen as he had picked up two wickets and bowled at a near 8.00 economy, while getting a lot of the more dangerous overs where many batters could have easily taken him on. Being that key figure from the left-end, the right-handed piece in Nqobani Mokoena, 39 runs given up in 4 overs, really struggled to get any level of bowling that his left-handed partner got, while giving up some massive shots. Someone who could clearly not be trusted, similar was Lutho Sipamla as he barely got over 1 over in this match.
Looking at the spinners, Bjorn Fourtin did perform extremely well in his 4 overs as he was able to give the ball a lot of turn on such grounds, while getting two wickets in his own right. Giving up just 17 runs, the problem was his overs were done so early, so it gave a lot of pressure to the back-end to finish the job.
On the right-handed side, Prenelan Subrayen came in with his unique action to get three wickets towards the end and despite giving up just 8 runs an over, it still couldn’t really stop the bleeding from the task Dewald Brevis had done. With the anticipation that he would only give up 7 to 8 runs an over, he went for nearly 11 and ruined the whole momentum.
South Africa: Batting Was A One-Man Show Today
For the Proteas, a major reason their batting really struggled was because it was clearly dominated by one player, and no one around him could perform. This was none other than Dewald Brevis, as he made amends for his bowling, but after seeing that Lhuan Dre-Pretorious and Jordan Hermann got out within 19 runs, he had to be an impactful piece while going at a much more mature strike rate. Not being able to hit with power on every ball like he normally does, it became even tougher after he got removed at 39/3 and was out of there fast.
Brevis did start a special combination with Rubin Hermann as they combined for nearly 40 runs, before Hermann had to leave for 12 after banging two sixes. With Connor Esterhuizen also not providing that same threat that he has always been known in South African domestic leagues, this unit was at 86/5 with Duan Jansen coming in and potentially creating a combination to save the day.
As both Jansen and Brevis did get to the 133/5 mark, it was the real-time Brevis started showing up, as he was able to finish with 5 sixes and four boundaries. Despite that, though, he had to depart for 75 off 50, and captain Bjorn Fortuin failed to make any combination with Duan Jansen that would put this game away. South Africa kept losing wickets down the order, while Jansen finished not out for 25 runs.
Namibia: A Great Finish By Both Pacers And Spinners
For the Namibia bowling attack, a major reason why they were able to pull off the win in this match was due to their bowlers’ game awareness. As Erasmus knew that South Africa had a lot of right-handed players today, he decided to give Trumpelmann all 4 overs, where he took 3 wickets and gave up just 6 an over.
Meanwhile, JJ Smit was the main spinner from the right-end, as he took three wickets in his own right and limited the run scoring as well. For other pacers, Max Heingo and Jack Brassell did contribute a bit with their two wickets, which ended up very important because Bernard Scholtz was having a bit of an off day with a near 12.5 economy.
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