David Wiese's all-round heroics in the Super-Over gave Namibia a victory in their opening ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 match here at Kensington Oval.
Oman posted a total of 109/10 against Namibia's disciplined bowling. However, Mehran Khan's stunning spell helped Oman tie the game, taking the match in the super-over.
Namibia come out with flying colours in the Super Over and posted 21/0, which Wiese successfully defended by conceding just 10 runs and picking up a wicket to seal the victory in their opening Group B match.
Oman Bundled Out for 109
Namibia won the toss and chose to bowl first. Ruben Trumpelmann made an immediate impact, taking two wickets in his first over. He trapped opener Kashyap Prajapati lbw for a duck with a pinpoint yorker on the first ball, then bowled another yorker to dismiss skipper Aqib Ilyas for a duck. In his second over, the left-arm pacer struck again when Naseem Khushi's attempt to go big ended in Erasmus's hands at mid-off.
Zeeshan Maqsod, the experienced batter, steadied Oman's innings during the Powerplay, maintaining a run-a-ball rate, but Bernard Scholtz trapped him lbw in the seventh over, adding to Oman's woes. Disciplined bowling from Namibia ensured that Oman's lower-order didn't take off with the change of pace.
Scholtz and Erasmus kept taking wickets for Namibia, limiting Oman batters to the inner circle. Oman attempted to increase their scoring rate in the death overs, but Wiese and Trumpelmann dismantled the tail, bowling Oman out for just 109.
Namibia's Reply
Defending 109, disciplined spin bowling from Aqib and Zeeshan Maqsood slowed Namibia's scoring rate in the middle overs. Skipper Gerhard Erasmus and Frylinck aimed to maintain a run-a-ball rate. Despite Oman dropping crucial catches, Maqsood eventually caught Erasmus (13) off Ayaan Khan in the 15th over.
Set batter Frylinck hit a series of boundaries, bringing the required rate level with three overs remaining. Mehran Khan's superb 18th over conceded just four byes and took JJ Smit's wicket. A six from David Wiese in the 19th over brought the equation to five runs off the final over.
Mehran, who had given just four runs off two overs thus far, brought up his wickets tally up from one to three in the first three balls of the final over, removing Frylinck and trapping Zane Green (0) lbw. The equation came down to two runs needed off the final ball with Wiese facing Mehran. Wiese missed, but the wicketkeeper fumbled, allowing the batters to steal a bye, pushing the game into a Super Over.
The Super-Over Thriller
In the super-over, Wiese and Gerhard Erasmus made the most of Bilal Khan's pace and hit four boundaries to take 21 runs off Namibia's allotted Super Over.
After smashing 13 off 4 in the Super Over with the bat, Wiese starred with the ball, giving merely 10 runs while picking the wicket of big-hitting Naseem Khushi and wrapped up the thrilling win in an opener.
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