Namibia Under-19 opening batters SJ Loftie-Eaton and Niko Davin guided their side to a winning start against Scotland in the ICC U-19 World Cup yesterday at the picturesque Sheikh Kamal International Cricket Stadium.
The Namibia bowlers exhibited a disciplined performance after Scotland won the toss and decided to bat first. Later, Loftie-Eaton (67*) and Davin (52) complemented the good work of their bowlers by adding 95 runs for the opening wicket as Namibia romped home to their target of 160 with nine wickets in hand and 24 overs to spare.
Player of the match Loftie-Eaton smashed nine fours in his 78-ball knock while Davin hammered 10 boundaries in his 37-ball essay as Namibia faced little trouble in overhauling the target.
Captain and wicket-keeper Zane Green (39) was unbeaten at the end alongside Loftie-Eaton.
The African nation’s best finish in the age-level tournament came in 2008 in Malaysia when they
were placed 11th out of 16 teams. Prior to the start of the ongoing edition, Green and his troop expressed their desire to improve on their best-ever finish. And in their bid to finish at least 10th or higher, the Namibia bowlers provided the perfect start yesterday against the Scottish youngsters.
Scotland were in early trouble and never really recovered, eventually managing 159 before losing all of their wickets inside the 37th over.
Top-order batter Owais Shah top-scored with a 49-ball 39 and were it not for Haris Aslam’s 32-ball 31, Scotland would have been skittled out for less than 100.
Michael van Lingen picked up three wickets while Loftie-Eaton, Charl Brits and Warren van Wyk shared six wickets between themselves.
