Glenn Phillips (39*) and Jimmy Neesham (35*) added 67 runs in the last four overs
New Zealand 163 for 4 (Phillips 39*, Scholtz 15/1) beat Namibia 111 for 7 (Lingen 25,
Southee 15/1) by 52 runs
New Zealand and Namibia clashed heads in the 36th match of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on Friday at Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Namibia lost their last game against Pakistan by 45 runs due to breath-taking batting performance by Pakistan openers, whereas New Zealand vanquished Scotland in their previous game by 16 runs due to a phenomenal 93-run knock by opener Martin Guptill.
Early dismissals for New Zealand
Daryll Mitchell and Martin Guptill opened the batting for New Zealand. However, previous game hero Guptill got caught at mid-off by Ruben Trumpelmann on 18 off the bowling of David Wiese. His partner Mitchell also got out immediately after the powerplay finished on 19.
Wicketkeeper batter Devon Conway joined skipper Kane Williamson in the middle to steady the Kiwi ship. Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus clean bowled his counterpart Williamson on 28. Also, Conway got run out by Erasmus on just 17 to leave the Kiwi side at 84/4.
James Neesham and Glenn Phillips late overs onslaught helps New Zealand reach 163
The next pair Glenn Phillips and James Neesham played some powerful strokes in the death overs. Phillips smacked a full toss delivery bowled by Erasmus over the deep mid-wicket boundary.
Neesham and Phillips both smoked one six each to medium-pacer David Wiese to collect 21 runs off 18th over. Both batters helped New Zealand reach 163 through brutal hitting in the death overs. They collected 67 runs in the last four overs. Phillips made 39 off just 21 balls and Neesham made 33 runs off 22 balls.
Namibia openers provide decent start
Namibia openers Michael van Lingen and Stephan Baard both batted confidently and put up a vital partnership of 47 runs. Right-arm medium pacer Neesham bowled Lingen on 25 in the eighth over of the innings. Also, in the next over his partner, Baard got bowled by spinner Mitchell Santner on 21.
Read More: ICC Men's T20 WC 2021 - NZ vs SCO - Guptill's 93 helps NZ defeat Scotland by 16 runs; NZ still at 3
Namibia batters fell flat in front of Kiwi pacers
Namibia skipper Erasmus got caught by wicketkeeper Conway on just 3. Green and David Wiese put a break on tumbling wickets in the middle overs. Green and Wiese whacked one six each in the 14 th overs bowled by Ish Sodhi. However, Wiese got out LBW by medium-pacer Tim Southee on 16.
With asking run-rate reaching sky-high, the target looked far from Namibia’s reach. Green tried to loft the ball over the long-on boundary but Trent Boult took his catch brilliantly. Left-arm pacer Boult dismissed Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton and Craig Williams for ducks.
Namibia could make only 111 runs in 20 overs after losing seven wickets, which gave a 52-run victory to New Zealand.
New Zealand are now placed second in Group 2 with six points in four matches, behind Pakistan who have eight points in their bag.
What Lies Ahead
Winning side New Zealand will play their last game in the Super 12 round against Afghanistan at Abu Dhabi on coming Sunday, whereas Namibia will face India at Dubai on coming Monday.
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