Namibia coach Williams rues losing regular wickets after solid start

After a seven-wicket defeat to Netherlands in their first match of the 2026 T20 World Cup, Namibia coach Craig Williams said that they were 20 to 30 runs short. They also stressed that the toss was very important, which the Netherlands won and chose to bat first on a sticky wicket.

"I think we were probably 20-30 runs short on the board," Williams said. "If you look at the conditions and the pitch, I think our bowlers make a really good effort to defend that. But the Dutch boys were always ten runs ahead of us. So it's obviously disappointing. We kept losing wickets throughout the innings and didn't really set ourselves up for a good day. So it was always going to be a challenge defending that score."

After being sent in on a slow Delhi pitch in a day match, Namibia lost their first wicket as early with offspinner Aryan Dutt having Lauren Steenkamp stumped. With the ball holding up, Netherlands captain Scott Edwards bowled Dutt for three overs in the first six and brought on another offspinner Colin Ackermann for the final over of the powerplay.

Still, Namibia reached 94 for 2 after 12 overs. At that point, it looked like they could get to 170, perhaps even beyond. However, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals and could manage only 156. Williams said that while the conditions were difficult at the start, that could not be used as an excuse.

"I realistically don't want to look into the conditions too much, but I reckon it was tough up front for our guys. The ball looked like it stuck a little bit. We knew that the pitch would be tougher up front, so we were also looking to bowl first. In hindsight, I actually think that we set it up quite nicely in the first eight overs and we got ourselves into a position where we could maximise through the middle and then towards the death.

"But unfortunately, just losing wickets every second over, we didn't really get that one partnership we were looking for. And then, just not being able to close it off in the death... We have got quite a strong team towards the middle and end with some big-hitters. But we just weren't able to get one of our top four to hang around with them."

Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus agreed with his coach. "I felt it was a decent toss for them to win," he said at the mixed zone. "Scotty [Edwards] also thought it was a good toss to win, seeing the amount of stick the spin got in that first and third over. That's a thing that is out of your control. What was in our control was to bat well. I thought the guys stuck to it on the sticky surface in that first bit of the game to try to build up to 160-170. Really tough to just hit out, try to hit boundaries there.

"After 12 overs, we were on course to maybe get a 165, 170 score and maybe have a bit more pressure on. But then obviously those last three overs we didn't quite capitalise with a run out here and there and that just didn't top up the innings at the end of it. Score of 150s these days… probably not quite enough."