http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Namibia-c2964 – Match Recap
Ireland defeated Namibia by an emphatic margin of eight wickets in an important match of the ICC Intercontinental Cup One-Day at Belfast, on the July 5, 2011.
Namibia won the toss in the rain affected match and opted to bat first in ideal batting conditions. The match was reduced down to 38 overs per innings after rain delayed the start of the match.
The visitors lost an early wicket in shape of Ewald Steenkamp, as he was dismissed in only the second over of the match. However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Helao-Nafidi-Ya-France-c62179 and Gerhard Rudolph consolidated the Namibian innings somewhat.
The most disappointing thing for Namibia was the fact that majority of their batsmen were off to good starts but they failed to capitalize and handed over the advantage to the home team.
Louis http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nicholaas-Reimert-Petrus-Scholtz-c79326 were the only batsmen to have shown some resistance in the middle overs for the visitors. But they did not find enough support from the others and as a result, the whole team was dismissed for just 175 runs
in the 36th over of the innings.
Scholtz was the top scorer as he made 35 runs off just 29 balls with the help of two fours and a massive six and remained unbeaten. Westhuizen also played a little cameo of 34 runs, which came off just 18 balls and he struck four boundaries and a couple
of huge hits out of the playing arena.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/John-Francis-Mooney-c67825 and Kevin O’Brien were the pick of the bowlers for the home team as they grabbed three wickets each after giving away 31 and 50 runs respectively.
Chasing http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Paul-Robert-Stirling-c81193, as they scored 65 runs for
the first wicket partnership at more than a run a ball.
After the demise of their openers, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alex-Richard-Cusack-c43129 and Niall O’Brien took control of the situation and constructed an awesome partnership. The two of them made sure that their team does not face anymore hiccups in this chase and saw Ireland home in the 31st
over of the innings.
Cusack played some delightful shots as he remained unbeaten on 59 runs, for which he consumed 55 balls and struck six boundaries and a six. O’Brien on the other hand remained not out on 38 runs. Porterfield and Stirling scored 45 and 26 runs respectively.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Louis-Klazinga-c73186 and Christi Viljoen picked up a wicket each but could not halt the Irish progress.
Ireland gained a couple of important points after this victory and proved once again that they are a force to be reckoned with.
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