Ireland hold off Namibia to claim third place at T20 Qualifier
Ireland held their nerve to close out a low-scoring third-place play-off against Namibia at Dubai this afternoon to finish off an underwhelming campaign at the T20 World Cup Qualifier on a winning note.
Ireland had secured qualification for the 2020 World Cup by narrowly topping Group B earlier in the week, while Namibia had seen off Oman in the first Qualifier playoff on the 29th to claim their spot, but both sides will be disappointed with their performances in their final two matches, Namibia missing a place in the final after falling short in a low-scoring match against Papua New Guinea, whilst Ireland had looked entirely outclassed by the Netherlands in the other semi-final.
Ireland ran out winners today by 27 runs in a match where neither side were at their best, having been bowled out for 135 with five balls remaining after a solid start. But Namibia again failed to overhaul a modest total, this time on a less difficult wicket, with skipper Gerhard Erasmus's 51 off 34 balls the only substantial innings, and the only score coming at better than a run a ball.
Paul Stirling and Kevin O'Brien had started positively after the Irish had won the toss and elected to bat, putting on a brisk opening stand of 35 before O'Brien skied a top edge to deep backward square off Ben Shikongo. Soon enough, Ireland's troubles against left arm spin resurfaced as Stirling miscued to long on off Bernhard Scholtz before Zhivago Groenwald took two consecutive wickets to reduce Ireland to 85/4 in the 12th over. For as long as Andy Balbirnie was at the crease a solid score looked possible, but his would be the wicket that sparked the collapse, pulling Craig Williams into the hands of Shikongo on the rope at backward square on the last ball of the 15th. Ireland's beleaguered captain Gary Wilson then missed a straight one in Williams's next over, before JJ Smit claimed two of his own immediately after.
Mark Adair would finish with a flourish in the 19th however, hitting Williams for back-to-back sixes before holing out to deep midwicket two balls later. Smit managed to close the innings yorking Boyd Rankin with the first ball of the 20th, but the additional runs would prove crucial in the end as Namibia again struggled to pace their chase with the ball not coming on.
They lost three wickets in the power-play, the last thanks to a superb return catch from player of the match Simi Singh to dismiss JP Kotze - with Singh going on to take 3-25 in his first appearance of the tournament. Erasmus was the only Namibia bat who seemed to have the measure of both the wicket and the bowling, and despite his partners struggling at the other end, he was able to shift some degree of pressure back onto the Irish. Dominating a 36-run stand with Zane Green for the 5th wicket, Erasmus took his side to 51-4 by the halfway mark, and the pressure seemed to get to Shane Getkate, who would give up 18 runs in the 11th over - including two no balls to bring the asking rate under 7.50, where it would stay until Adair took the ball for the 15th.
Erasmus had been dropped the previous over at extra cover off Gareth Delaney, and a missed run-out opportunity gave him another two balls later, but his luck finally ran out on the 4th ball of the 15th when he went after a short delivery down leg from Adair and could only pull it down the throat of short fine leg.
From there the Namibian challenge subsided quickly, and the dream of a first win over a Full Member in an official international receded with every wicket. By the time number 11 Shikongo, batting for the first time in the tournament (and indeed in T20Is), arrived at the wicket for the 19th over the game was long gone. He would chip his first ball from Adair to cover to bring the game to an end, though no doubt his side had given the Irish a scare.
Brief Scores: Ireland 135 in 19.1 overs (Andrew Balbirnie 46; JJ Smit 3/19) beat Namibia 108 in 18.2 overs (Gerhard Erasmus 51; Simi Singh 3/25) by 27 runs.
