Eagles win first series game

Eagles win first series game Nampa



WINDHOEK

The Namibian senior national men’s cricket team The Eagles won their first match of the 2021 Castle Lite series by seven wickets against Uganda’s Cricket Cranes on Saturday.

Player of the match and skipper of the Namibian team Gerhard Erasmus had a brilliant game as he surpassed 1 000 T20 career runs during the match.

Erasmus played a captain’s innings to steer Namibia to a commanding seven-wicket victory in their first T20 international against Uganda at the Wanderers field in Windhoek.

Erasmus and Michau du Preez had an unbroken partnership of 82 runs as Namibia easily reached the winning target of 135 with five overs to spare.

Cranes win the toss

Uganda, who won the toss, opted to bat and got off to a quick start with Roger Mukasa and Arnold Otwani putting on 37 for the first wicket.

Namibian pace bowler Ben Shikongo got the breakthrough, bowling Mukasa for 26, and when spinner Bernard Scholtz dismissed Otwani for seven, Uganda were two down with 40 runs on the board.

Uganda’s innings was revived by Hamu Kayondo and Ronak Patel with a 48-run partnership before Nicol Loftie-Eaton dismissed Kayondo for 28 while Shikongo bowled Dinesh Nakrani for one, and the Cranes were four down for 92 runs.

Riazat Shah added a rapid 23 off 14 balls as Uganda reached a total of 134 for five wickets off their 20 overs.

In reply, Namibia lost their openers early on, with JP Kotze going for two and Craig Williams for four, but Erasmus and Loftie-Eaton put them back on track with a 41-run partnership.

Namibia reached the target with five overs to spare and Shikongo - with two wickets for 24 runs - was the pick of the Namibian bowlers.