Eagles subdue Scottish attack in warm-up

Cricket
Namibia (226/5) beat Scotland (220/4) by six runs.
Andrew Poolman
  • 4 Hours Ago

In a tense finish, Namibia’s FNB Eagles beat Scotland by six runs in their ICC T20 World Cup official warm-up match in Bengaluru, India, yesterday.

JJ Smit’s dismissal of Scotland captain Richie Berrington by bowling him after 19.2 overs was a crucial moment.

Scotland, chasing a challenging target of 227 to win, needed 12 runs off the last over and Berrington (46 off 26 balls) was the established batsman who had hit the fourth six of his innings in the previous over by Ruben Trumpelmann (0/42 in 4 overs).

But Smit had other ideas, conceding only five runs to finish with 1/31 in 4 overs.

Scotland’s number three batsman Brandon McMullen scored an attacking 95 runs off just 39 balls (6x4 8x6) to bring Scotland within range of successfully finishing their run-chase. However, he was denied a century when Trumpelmann took a catch off the bowling of Gerhard Erasmus (1/29 in 2 overs).

Namibia’s young seam bowler Max Heingo took 2/44 in four overs on a day when even the ever-economical Bernard Scholtz (1/41 in 4) was not spared some punishment. Heingo first dismissed opener Michael Jones (6 off 8 balls) and later removed Tom Bruce (20 off 14 balls).

Earlier, after Gerhard Erasmus won the toss and opted to bat first, openers Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck put together an excellent 137 runs for the first wicket, to lead Namibia towards posting a competitive total of 226 for four.

Frylinck and Steenkamp set a new overall Namibian record partnership in T20 internationals, overtaking Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Malan Kruger’s 135 for the fourth wicket against Nepal in Kirtipur in February 2024.

Frylinck top-scored with 88 runs off 44 balls (13 fours, three sixes), while Louren Steenkamp also passed fifty at an even quicker rate (51 off 24 balls; 6x4 2x6; strike rate 212.5).

The next batters Gerhard Erasmus (33 not out off 22 balls; 2x4 1x6), JJ Smit (22 off 17 balls, 1x4 1x6) and Ruben Trumpelmann (run out off the last ball of the innings, for 25 off 13 balls, 4x4) all scored at a good run-rate.

Namibia’s total of 226 did not reach its record total of 241/5 against Kenya in Harare last September – but yesterday’s effort was arguably achieved against a better quality bowling attack.

On Friday afternoon, Namibia will play their last warm-up match against India-A.