SHARJAH – New Zealand displayed a stunning all-round performance to beat Namibia in the first Group 2 clash of the day in Sharjah in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
The 52-run win helps New Zealand leapfrog Afghanistan to the second position in the Group 2 standings.
Chasing 164, Namibia were unable to take advantage of the fielding restrictions as the New Zealand pacers kept a leash on the scoring. They eventually reaped the rewards, scalping three wickets after the Powerplay as the pressure kept building.
Namibia never managed to recover from there as the Black Caps kept pegging at the wickets. The Eagles could only get to 111/7 as they fell short by 52 runs.
Earlier, Namibia won the toss and elected to field first against Black Caps.
Toss update from Sharjah 📰
Namibia have won the toss and will field first. #T20WorldCup | #NZvNAM | https://t.co/8HFFXJ0FqT pic.twitter.com/3S4sBzcGWb
— ICC (@ICC) November 5, 2021
Meanwhile, Namibia participated for the first time in the mega event and would look to cause an upset to make this edition a more memorable one. Namibian squad had was in good shape in the opening round, but suffered back-to-back defeats at the Super 12 stage.
New Zealand is the favorite to win the 36th match of the T20 World Cup 2021 as they played three T20 World Cup matches in this tournament, lost one against Pakistan, and won against India and Scotland.
Besides New Zealand and Namibia, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Scotland are in Group 2 of ICC T20 World Cup 2021.
Williamson and team are favorites are to finish as runner-ups from Group 2, behind table-toppers Green Shirts, with two games to go.
T20 World Cup: Guptill leads New Zealand to 16-run victory against Scotland
Squads:
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson(c), Devon Conway(w), Glenn Phillips, James Neesham, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Tim Southee, Ish Sodhi, Trent Boult
Namibia: Stephan Baard, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus(c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green(w), Michael van Lingen, Karl Birkenstock, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz
T20 World Cup: Pakistan beat Namibia, become first team to qualify for semi-finals
