ICC Intercontinental Cup and Shield

NAMIBIA v UNITED ARAB EMIRATES The United Arab Emirates were outclassed by Namibia in, for the visitors, alien conditions at Windhoek, being unable to deal with the ball moving off the pitch. The result was some recompense for Namibia who, earlier in the year, had been similarly overwhelmed when playing away to Scotland and Ireland. After being put in by Louis Burger, the Emirates’ innings lasted a mere 38 overs, with only two of their batsmen reaching 20. The wickets were shared by the pace attack of Gerrie Snyman, Ian van Zyl and Louis Klazinga, the first two accounting for the top order and Klazinga taking the three middle-order batsmen in a spell of nine overs for only 12 runs. At 57 for eight only a very low score seemed possible but Abdul Rehman and Ali Asad created a small revival, the latter hitting two sixes and one four in his 24, the highest individual score in the innings. Louis Burger took the two wickets needed to finish the innings, four runs short of the three-figure mark. All the Emirates’ batsmen were out to catches as either they went chasing the moving ball, or were unable to get their bat out of the way and edged the ball to the wicketkeeper or the slips. Ali Asad and Wasim Bari also made use of the conditions to remove the first three Namibian batsmen for only 37 runs, but that was the end of their success. Louis Burger and Snyman demolished the Emirates’ attack in a partnership of 93, dominated by Snyman, whose typically aggressive approach yielded 66 runs at a strike rate of 134.6 with nine fours and one six. Deon Kotze helped add a further 61 but Wasim Bari returned to dismiss both him and his brother, Bjorn Kotze. Nicolaas Scholtz made a useful 28 before falling victim to Khurram Khan’s spin but, with Louis Burger still undefeated at the close, Namibia led by 155 runs. Louis Burger reached his century early on the second day but with the score on 306 he was run out by Khurram Khan, after having batted for just over three hours. Tobias Verwey then took charge and, in an impressive display for a number nine batsman, hit 12 fours and four sixes. None of the Emirates’ bowlers could constrain him as he amassed 114 runs at a strike rate of 72.6 and enabled the home side to add 122 for the last two wickets. Namibia maintained a strike rate of 69.8 over the whole of their innings. With a deficit of 332, the Emirates were undoubtedly demoralised, but that was hardly an excuse for another inept display of batting. Again the innings lasted only 38 overs, although they managed to score nearly twice as many runs. This was largely due to a defiant display by Kashif Khan who made over half of his team’s total. With ten fours and six sixes, 80% of his score came in boundaries and his 95 runs were made at a strike rate of 141.7, even outscoring Snyman. It was all to no avail, however, because Klazinga was far too good for the other batsmen, taking five wickets for 20 runs from only seven overs to give him an outstanding match return of 16-7-32-8. 104 ICC Intercontinental Cup 2006-07