Namibia's bowlers shine at ICC Intercontinental Cup Namibia managed to restrict Papua New Guinea to just 294 on the opening day''s first innings in the ICC Intercontinental Cup.The four-day tie between the countries got underway yesterday while the two one-day fixtures of the IWCL will be played on 21 and 23 October.
Namibia regularly picked up wickets during yesterday''s play with Bernhard Scholtz doing the most damage.
He claimed the wickets of Tony Ura, Sese Bau, Dogodo Bau, John Boge Reva and Normal Oreta Vanua.
The bowler''s exploits were supported by Stephan Baard, who claimed two wickets, JJ Smit and Nicolaas Scholtz, who each claimed one wicket apiece.
Overall, Namibia''s bowlers were quite economical as most of PNG''s batsmen were restricted to relatively low scores.
The only exception was the home side''s captain Assadollah Vala, who recorded 136 not out.
Namibia were due to bat later on in the day.
PNG and Namibia are both on 20 points from three outings each in the ICC Intercontinental Cup with only the United Arab Emirates (UAE) lagging behind them on seven points from four matches in the eight-team competition, which is the pathway to Test cricket.
PNG''s high point in this competition has been a five-wicket victory over the Netherland but it has lost to former champion Afghanistan and reigning champion Ireland by 201 runs and 145 runs, respectively.
Namibia defeated Hong Kong by 114 runs but lost by big margins to Afghanistan and Ireland. It went down by an innings and 36 runs to Afghanistan and by an innings and 107 runs to Ireland.
Ireland leads the points table with 80 points from four matches while Afghanistan is second with 61 points, meaning their match in India in March could be the potential decider of who wins ICC''s premier first-class championship.
The squads:
Papua New Guinea: Assadollah Vala (captain), Dogodo Bau, Sese Bau, Mahuru Dai, Willi Toua Gavera, Hiri Hiri, Vani Vagi Morea, Alei Nao, Nosaina Pokana, John Boge Reva, Lega Siaka, Chad Aiwati Soper, Tony Ura, Normal Oreta Vanua.
Namibia: Sarel Burger (captain), Stephan Baard, Helao Ya France, Jan Frylink, Zane Green, Jean-Pierre Kotze, Mika Mutumbe, Colin Peake, JJ Smit, Bernhard Scholtz, Nicolaas Scholtz, Gerrie Snyman, Waan van Vuuren, Craig Williams.-Adapted from ICC-Cricket