7 April 2008
Windhoek — Namibia pulled off a stunning one-wicket victory against Scotland in their ICC Intercontinental Cup match at the Wanderers field yesterday.
Needing 237 for victory, Namibia were facing defeat at 190/9 but Deon Kotze (36 not out) and Louis Klazinga (18 not out) added 47 runs for the final wicket to take Namibia to a famous victory.
The result puts Namibia comfortably at the top of the ICC Intercontinental Cup log with 88 points and they are now virtually assured of reaching the Intercontinental Cup final. But besides that, it has placed Namibia firmly on the cricketing map, as Laurie Pieters of the Namibia Cricket Board explained.
"This is a great moment for Namibian sport and not just for cricket. We have now beaten all the top countries in the ICC Intercontinental Cup competition and it shows that all the hard work we have put in to build this team since the last World Cup is now starting to pay off," Laurie Pieters of the Namibia Cricket Board said.
"The staff at the ICC headquarters in Dubai started taking bets on the outcome and phoned me every three minutes for an update. It shows that world cricket is starting to take notice of Namibia," he added. Namibia were in deep trouble at the start of yesterday's play at 45/3 in their second innings, still 191 runs behind the victory target. John Blain, who took 5/45 in Namibia's first innings, once again broke through Namibia's top order, dismissing JB Burger for three, Raymond van Schoor for two and Gerrie Snyman for a duck.
Sarel Burger however came to Namibia's rescue with an innings of 79 runs, but after his dismissal, along with Louis Burger (20), Craig Williams (4), Nicolaas Scholtz (30) and Kola Burger (17) a Namibian victory seemed highly unlikely.
Last batsman Klazinga however joined Deon Kotze and showed great maturity with a sensible knock that swung the match Namibia's way. Klazinga went on to score 18 not out off 73 balls.
"It was an unbelievable innings by Louis Klazinga. He batted very sensibly and grew in confidence as his innings progressed," Pieters said. Namibia's former captain and coach Deon Kotze however played the anchor role with an innings of 38 runs off 107 balls to steer Namibia to a memorable victory.
John Blain was once again Scotland's best bowler, taking 4 wickets for 61 runs.
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