Geelong — The United Arab Emirates defeated Namibia by seven runs in their Twenty20 World Cup debut on Thursday, advancing the Netherlands to the Super 12 stage of the competition.
Had they won, the Africans would have joined Sri Lanka in the following round instead of the Dutch, but against the odds, the UAE limited them to 141-8 while they were chasing 149 to win.
Zahoor Khan and Basil Hameed each took two wickets as the UAE reduced Namibia to 69-7 in the 13th over, but David Wiese’s (55 off 36 balls) late pyrotechnics set up a tight final over.
UAE captain Chundangapoyil Rizwan won the toss and elected to bat against an assault led by paceman Ruben Trumpelmann, a crucial performer in Namibia’s progress to the second round a year earlier.
With the assistance of experienced Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, JJ Smit, and Jan Frylinck, they limited UAE openers Muhammad Waseem and Vritya Aravind to 39 runs in the first eight overs.
As the pressure increased, Aravind (21) edged Scholtz, resulting in the loss of the first wicket.
Waseem opened the batting to keep the scoreboard rolling, and with Rizwan at his side, he reached his fifth T20 fifty off forty balls.
Two balls later, though, he was out, delivering a Ben Shikongo delivery to third man into the hands of Trumpelmann.
Alishan Sharafu (4) went out before they reached 100 in the 15th over, with Rizwan (43 not out) and Hameed (25 not out) guiding them to a decent total with 33 runs stolen from the last two overs.
Stephan Baard received a thick edge off Junaid Siddique, which Ahmed Raza grabbed, followed by Michael van Lingen being caught on the ropes.
They were reduced to 16-2 after three overs, and the situation did not improve when Jan Nicol Lofti-Eaton was out lbw on review two overs later, giving India-born Hameed his second wicket.
Namibia were in chaos at 46-5 when captain Gerhard Erasmus was bowled by Karthik Meiyappan, who got a hat-trick against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, and JJ Smit was run out.
Khan then dismissed the threatening Frylinck with a yorker and Zaner Green three balls later, leaving Namibia staring into the abyss in the thirteenth over.
But Wiese never gave up and, paired with Trumelmann (25 not out), attempted to save his country with some powerful hitting, bringing the target down to 20 off the final two overs before falling short.