The Namibian Eagles won a thrilling three-wicket victory against PNG in their Cricket World Cup League 2 match at Wanderers Field on Wednesday.
After choosing to bat, PNG posted a competitive total 236 all out. Then they seemed on track for victory when Namibia was restricted to 6/109 halfway through the innings.
The Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus (71) was joined by Ruben Trumpelmann (55) not out, but he led a gritty revival. They reached 241/7 with two runs to spare, with Pikky Ya France adding 23 runs.
PNG’s top team was in action on their Namibian tour for the first time. All their top batsmen got among the runs.
Tony Ura and Kiplin Doriga put on 104 runs before Ura was outrun by Ruben Trumpelmann who scored 57 runs off 70 balls (8×4,1×6). Doriga scored 50 runs, while Sesebau added 37 runs and Assad Vala 59 runs off 53 balls (5×4,3×6) to make PNG a commanding 224/5, with five overs remaining.
Ruben Trumpelmann and Tangeni Lungameni, Namibia’s pacemen, were however able to clean up the tail. PNG were then dismissed for 236 runs with the final five wickets falling for 12 runs.
Lungameni achieved 6/42 from nine overs, while Trumpelmann was 4/53 with 9,2 overs.
Namibia’s top-order cricketers could not get started because they lost wickets regularly.
Lohan Louwrens (2) (10) and Divan la Cock (10) were all sold cheaply. Namibia was in serious trouble at 70/5 when JJSmit was dismissed for 6.
Zane Green and Erasmus however led a revival, while Green was out for 20, while Erasmus & Trumpelmann took it to 185 before Erasmus was fired for 71 off of 96 balls (7×4,2×6).
The momentum had shifted to Namibia, and Trumpelmann maintained the pace, scoring 55 not-out off 60 balls (2×4,2×6). Ya France added 23 not-out, as Namibia secured a thrilling three wicket win.
Trumpelmann was awarded the player of the Match award for his outstanding all-round performance.
Source: namibian
