Namibia star David Wiese hauls his side over the line against a spirited Oman in a low-scoring thriller in Barbados
Australia’s first Group B opponents Oman missed a golden chance to claim a big T20 World Cup scalp before going down to Namibia in a Super Over in Barbados.
Bowled out for 109 in 19.4 overs on a tricky Kensington Oval surface – where the 19th ranked T20I side will face powerhouses Australia on Wednesday night (10.30am, Thursday AEST) – a plucky Oman bowling attack refused to let the contest slip away.
Seamers Mehran Khan (3-7 off three overs) and Bilal Khan (1-25 off 4), along with skipper Aqib Ilyas’ (1-17 off 4) leg-spinners, kept the run-rate in check throughout the chase as star allrounder David Wiese hit Bilal for a six in the penultimate over to leave the fancied Namibians requiring five runs in six balls for victory.
But medium-pacer Mehran had other ideas; starting the over with the keeper up to the stumps, he took two wickets in the first three balls to crucially keep Wiese away from strike and Namibia still needing a nervy five runs from the final three balls.
A single off the fourth ball by Malan Kruger gave Wiese the strike for a grandstand finish, the right-hander then crunching a powerful straight drive that only the non-striker’s end stumps prevented from being a match-winning boundary.
A hurried two off the deflection left the equation two off one before keeper Naseem Khushi bottled a two-metre throw that would have resulted in the match-sealing run out.
With Khushi back up to the stumps for the final delivery, him and Wiese were beaten by the extra bounce from Mehran, with the ball ballooning off his gloves and into the leg-side.
As the Namibian batters attempted to scramble a bye to tie the game, Khushi perhaps had more time than he realised to effect the run out, but in a moment of panic amid the chaotic finish, he chose to flick the ball from the back of his hand rather than turn to face the stumps, missing by centimetres as the two sides finished on 109 apiece.
Wiese, tasked with batting and bowling in the resultant Super Over to decide the winner, effectively iced the match within the first two deliveries by slamming Bilal – chosen ahead of Mehran to bowl the tiebreaking over – for a six and a four as Namibia reached 0-21, the highest Super Over score in a men’s T20 World Cup.
After Khushi managed just two from the first two balls of their Super Over before being bowled by Wiese from the third delivery, the contest was all but done as Namibia secured the first two points on offer in Group B also featuring Australia, England and Scotland.
Earlier, towering left-armer Ruben Trumpelmann struck with the opening two balls of the match after Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus elected to bowl first, pinning Kashyap Prajapati and Ilyas for golden ducks with full, inswinging deliveries.
Trumpelmann finished with an outstanding 4-21, Wiese collecting 3-27 to dismiss Oman with two balls remaining in the 20th over.
Khalid Kail’s 34 from 39 balls anchored the Oman innings, navigating them out of early trouble at 3-10 and helping them to a modest total that they almost defended.
For Namibia, Jan Frylinck’s 45 from 48 held the innings together on a pitch with increasing variable bounce as the match wore on, but his dismissal on the first ball of the final over set in motion a thrilling finale.
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