Maqonda Ndlovu
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Namibia are level at 1-1 after two of their six T20 international matches, which kicked off on Tuesday, 26 September and are scheduled to end on 3 October.
In the first match on Tuesday, the UAE’s women won the toss and elected to bat first, posting 100 runs for the loss of seven wickets (100/7) in their 20 overs.
UAE’s Theertha Satish top-scored with 52 runs not out from 53 balls, and Khushi Sharma chipped in with 10 runs from 19 balls.
Namibia’s Victoria Hamunyela took two wickets for 19 runs in four overs, while Wilka Mwatile, captain Irene van Zyl and Dietlind Foerster each claimed a wicket apiece.
In reply, Namibia were restricted to 81/7 in their 20 overs.
Mwatile scored 18 runs, while Van Zyl scored 19 as Namibia struggled in their chase, losing the match by 19 runs.
On Wednesday, the UAE women again won the toss, and elected to bat first.
They posted 110/5 in their 20 overs, with Kavisha Egodage scoring 35 runs, Satish scoring 24 runs, and captain Esha Oza scoring 25 runs.
Foerster took 2/16, while Van Zyl took 1/13 in four overs each.
In response, Namibia’s opener Yasmeen Khan scored 62 runs not out off 57 balls, while Jurriene Diergaardt scored 23 runs off 25 balls.
Mwatile contributed 27 runs from 27 balls not out, as the Namibians strolled to a nine-wicket victory with 12 balls remaining.
The two teams next meet today for the third match before clashing again on Saturday for the fourth match.
The final two matches will take place on Monday, 02 October and Tuesday 03 October.
Before departing for the UAE on Saturday, Namibia’s national women’s coach Francois van der Merwe was upbeat. “We are excited to play international games against the UAE. We hosted the UAE in the recently-held Capricorn Eagles series in April, and beat them 2-0. We are now going to play in the unknown - a different condition - and it is going to be a different experience for the team. The humidity in Dubai will play a factor in the tour, but we are well-prepared”, he said.
UAE women are currently ranked 15th in the ICC women’s T20 internationals rankings, while Namibia’s women are placed 17th.
All the 2023 T20 internationals between the UAE and Namibia are being played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the UAE.
– jrnmarko@gmail.com
* Namibian team in Dubai: Irene van Zyl, Adri van der Merwe, Bianca Manuel, Edelle van Zyl, Jurriene Diergaardt, Mekelaye Mwatile, Saima Tuhadeleni, Yasmeen Khan, Dietlind Foerster, Kayleen Green, Sune Wittmann, Wilka Mwatile, Merczerly Gorases, Naomi Benjamin, Sylvia Shihepo and Victoria Hamunyela.