South Africa 228 for 4 (Pretorius 101, Esterhuizen 88, Balt 2-31) Namibia 217 for 3 (Frielink 72, Steenkamp 61, Mokoena 2-43) in 11 innings
In the final match of the tri-series, Namibia lost by 11 points in a high-scoring thriller with a match total of 445 points. The result means that Namibia will be absent from the final match that will be held between South Africa and Zimbabwe on Sunday.
Esterhuizen is relishing the opportunity at the top
After using the slot to get a goal, Esterhuizen faced the quick Robin Trompelman almost immediately, pulling a short ball over fine leg for a six. In the next over, the left-arm seamer attacked JJ Smit for another six, then took six straight sixes from Jacques Brassell.
By the end of the powerplay, Esterhuizen had hit five sixes, and was on 40 off 21 balls. For comparison, Pretorius had 23 of 15 births, not one six at the same stage. Esterhuizen isn’t done there either. He took 24 runs from Brasil’s second, the ninth of the innings, to get out his fifty off 26 balls, in a sequence that read: 6, 4, 4, 6, 4, 0.
Pretorius finished the job
Three days ago, Pretorius missed his maiden T20I century on 94 to face Zimbabwe. But he made up for it against Namibia. At the start of the 20th over, Pretorius, on 89, hit Gerhard Erasmus in the parking lot to move to 95. He clearly wanted to get the next ball when he attempted another big throw but did not connect.
But that didn’t stop him from trying again. Pretorius swept the third ball of that one, sailing over the boundary for another six to reach his century. Pretorius had barely finished celebrating when Erasmus gave birth to a yorker, and Pretorius was unable to get his bat down in time to ward him off. He was bowled out with two balls remaining in the innings, but with a milestone to his name.
Freelink launched the beginning of Namibia
Given the scale of their task, Namibia had no choice but to throw everything they had at South Africa’s bowlers – and the opening duo did just that. Steenkamp and Vrelink showed off their shooting in a fast start for Namibia, growing in confidence as they continued to find boundaries. The biggest one came when Andile Simelane, who was brought into the team in place of the injured Lutho Sipamla, went for a short ball, and was sent in for successive sixes by Frylinck. This helped Namibia finish the match with an unbeaten score of 67.
Those were the first two of Vrielinek’s five sixes in a dazzling display of fearless batting. Vrylinck brought up his fifty with a six off Nqaba Peter off the 28th ball he faced, sent South Africa’s stand-in captain Bjorn Fortuyn off the ground and, when Simelane was brought back, hit him on the surface of the pitch.
Simelane had the last word when Frylinck tried to pull it over mid-wicket but did not get it as far as he had hoped, and was caught by substitute fielder Tony De Zorzi on the rope.
South Africa finally presses on
Namibia kept themselves in pursuit throughout the chase, and it was only a few moments later that South Africa slowly made their way forward. The first came when Ethan Bush hit Steenkamp on the arm in the 16th over, after which Steenkamp retired hurt on 61. That brought JJ Smit to the crease, and he managed four nine balls before sneaking a fielder into sweeper cover to give South Africa a second slight advantage.
Kwena Maphaka’s final, the 19th, cost 13 runs, leaving Namibia needing 24 points to win the final. Nqobani Mokoena, in his fifth T20I, held his nerve in the end with a clear plan to bowl the New York fielders wide. Two of them were very wide, and one was a full toss, but he did not concede any boundaries in the final over and took a wicket off the last ball to give South Africa a tense win.
Firdaus Munda is Cricinfo’s chief correspondent for Africa and women’s cricket
