The first Group B match at Kensington Oval in the International Cricket Council Men’s T20 World Cup produced a thriller which Namibia won after a super over against Oman on Sunday night.
Very few spectators would have expected the match to be decided on a super over after Oman were restricted to 109 in 19.4 overs and Nambia reached 73 for three in the 15th over.
A few tight overs set the stage for a close finish as Namibia required 14 from the last two overs and five from the last. Oman kept their nerve to limit Namibia to four from the last six balls to send the match into a super one.
In the super over, Namibia lashed 21 as David Wiese and captain Gerhard Erasmus combined to lash three fours and six.
Oman could only manage ten from their over.
Namibia’s victory was set up by a career-best four-wicket haul by left-arm fast bowler Ruben Trumpelmann who started the match in sensational fashion by grabbing wickets with his first two balls.
The double-strike at the start of the innings put Oman under early pressure from which they never recovered.
Trumpelmann claimed opener Kashyap Prajapati lbw with a ball that cut back and then dislodged captain Aqib Ilyas with a toe-crunching yorker.
Those early strikes set the tone for the remainder of the innings in which there were six lbw victims.
Trumpelmann also claimed a wicket in his second over and grabbed another towards the end to finish with the impressive figures of four for 21 from his four overs.
Khalid Kail, batting at No. 5, hit the topscore of 34 off 39 balls but Oman never found any momentum after the early setbacks.
Namibia also lost a wicket with the first ball of their response which was led by Jan Frylinck’s 45 off 48 balls. (HG)
