Namibia continue on their winning ways

Namibia, after an excellent win against a Gauteng Invitation team on Monday, continued on their winning ways but found the going hard against a young Northerns XI in a World Cup lead-up match at Laudium.

Batting first the Namibians were soon in trouble when after an initial flourish from Jan Berrie Burger, scoring 32 off 29 balls, including three fours and two sixes, found themselves at 73/5 after 23 overs.

A 35-run partnership between the two Burger brothers, Sarel and Louis (20), and a 55 run partnership between Sarel and Melt van Schoor (25) saw a slight recovery with the seventh wicket going down on 163 with four overs remaining.

At the completion of the 50 overs Namibia had scored 190/9 with Sarel Burger undefeated on 47. A good recovery for the visitors, coming back from a disastrous start.

If however some of the top order had attempted to push the ball into gaps looking for singles or tried to rotate the strike then a target of well over 200 could have been posted.

Christo Karemaker with 3/29 was the most successful Northerns bowler.

Once again the Namibian bowling held the upper hand, an area that they have improved on throughout the season.

Gerrie Snyman had to leave the field after bowling 4.4 overs with what appeared to be a stomach muscle strain while Bjorn Kotze was once again the main wicket taker taking 4/32 bowling with good accuracy and length.

"We took Gerrie off the field as a precautionary measure and we are confident that he will be fit for the match against Zimbabwe", said Manager Francious Gustav.

Lennie Louw was once again on the spot and very miserly in giving away any cheap runs with his left arm orthodox spinners. He finished his ten over spell with 1/21 and is a crucial part of the Namibian attack.

A 49-run partnership between Karemaker and Mandla Mashinbye ensured that the game headed for an exciting finish with Namibia managing to take the last wicket with eight balls to spare and a win by eight runs.