Magical victory for the Eagles
The stage was set and the FNB Namibia Eagles delivered in style with a four-wicket victory against South Africa in their first-ever international cricket match on Saturday. Playing in front of a festive crowd of about 4 000 at the official opening of the FNB Namibia Cricket Ground, Namibia restricted SA to 134/8 and then after a see-saw chase, birthday boy Zane Green smashed the winning runs off the last ball of the match. Green played a great innings of 30 not out off 23 balls to take Namibia to the target, but pace bowler Ruben Trumpelmann won the player of the match award after taking three wickets for 28. With great support from the other bowlers, Namibia managed to contain South Africa to a reachable target of 135. The young Max Heingo made a stunning debut with two wickets for 32 runs, while Gerhard Erasmus, Ben Shikongo, and JJ Smit each took one wicket to limit SA to a reachable target of 135. Middle-order batter Jason Smith was their top scorer with 31 runs, while Ruben Hermann scored 23 and Lhuan-dre Pretorius 22. In reply, Namibia got off to a tentative start with Louren Steenkamp scoring 13 and Jan Frylinck and Nicol-Loftie Eaton 7 each, but Erasmus led a brave revival against South Africa’s array of pace bowlers, and when he was dismissed for 21 the match was still very evenly balanced at 66/4 midway through their innings. Namibia’s middle-order batters all made telling contributions with JJ Smit scoring 13 and Malan Kruger 18, but it was Green who shone bright on his 29th birthday with 30 not out off 23 balls, while Ruben Trumpelmann added 11 not out as Namibia capped a historical day with a magical victory.