Maqonda Ndlovu
Namibia’s senior national women’s cricket team, the Richelieu Eagles, crashed out of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s T20 World Cup Africa Qualifier in Entebbe, Uganda, after losing by 86 runs to Zimbabwe in the first semifinal on Saturday.
Namibia won the toss and elected to bowl first – and Zimbabwe optimised on the good batting conditions, scoring 150 runs for the loss of six wickets (150/6) in the allocated 20 overs.
Namibia never got going, as they could only manage a paltry 64 all out in 16.2 overs, with Edelle van Zyl top-scoring with 23 runs from 20 balls, while Jurriene-Arrasta Diergaardt scored 10 runs from 16 balls.
Zimbabwe claimed a spot in the finals, relegating Namibia to the third- or fourth-place playoff and effectively eliminating them from the ICC Global Qualification tournament, scheduled for next year in Dubai, as no other Namibian batter managed to reach double figures.
The third- or fourth-place playoff match was abandoned with a ball being balled due to bad weather conditions.
Mekelaye Mwatile was the toast of the bowlers, claiming three wickets, while Diergaardt took two and Kayleen-Ann Green claimed one.
Speaking after the match, Namibian captain Irene van Zyl was disappointed with the defeat, saying the team did not start well with the ball.
“They got off to a great start when they had the bat. We tried to get the momentum back in the later stages of the first inning. But they were too advanced for us. We didn’t execute our plan on the day as we wanted to,” she said.
Van Zyl added that there are always positives to take from matches like the one against Zimbabwe, and hopefully, they will get opportunities to play higher-ranked opponents regularly.
“If you want to move to the bigger leagues, you should be able to play confidently against teams like Zimbabwe, who are ranked 12th in the world. We must just play more cricket. That’s the only way to learn,” she added.
Zimbabwe was set to face Uganda in the final, with the two teams already qualified for the ICC Global Qualifications set for next year.