Zimbabwe 159 for 5 (Kaya 72, Trompelman 2-41). Namibia 156 for 6 (Erasmus 88*, Evans 2-29) with five wickets
Zimbabwe will qualify for the final if South Africa beats Namibia on Friday.
Best powerplay of the series
Runs have been scored fairly easily early in the innings throughout this series but this time, with the windy conditions and pitch used, things were very different in the first six overs. Zimbabwe’s attack benefited from Sikandar Raza’s decision to field Namibia, and a combination of turnover and contact up front kept things quiet before Evans’ introduction made the breakthrough. Evans bowled it back at length, Lauren Steenkamp tried to clip it over square leg and as the ball turned, Wesley Madhevir took a good catch. In the next over, Blessing Muzarabani had Jan Vrylinck swing across the line and catch at point. Kundai Matigimu was introduced in the final match of the Powerplay, finding extra bounce and his first wicket in a T20I when Zane Green was caught behind, and Namibia were 26 for 3, the worst Powerplay score of the series, with the previous lowest total being 34 for 2.
Erasmus brings Namibia together
Namibia captain Erasmus had a quiet series by his standards with 19 and 12 points. But when he had the opportunity to fix that here, he took it. Erasmus had faced two balls by the time the Powerplay ended and Busing-Volschenk was at the other end. He was happy to let his younger partner play his shots. At the halfway mark, Erasmus was at 10 from 11 and only then reached his first limit: cutting off his opposite number, Raza. Wellington then sent Masakadza to the pits in his first six races, beating Busing-Volschenk. From there, Erasmus was in complete control. He admired Matjimo and hit boundaries from him on either side of the wicket and reached his fifty by pulling Evans off the 32nd ball he faced. When Busing-Volschenk was dismissed and their 83-run fourth stand ended, Erasmus had to guide Namibia to a strong finish. He went after anything short and was ruthless in Evans’ last over, claiming 14 to put Namibia on Zimbabwe on 157.
Namibia is losing its innocence
Zimbabwe lost Ben Curran early and, given how things have gone in this series, it could have easily collapsed but Kaya stepped in. Brought into the XI in place of the ill-fated Dion Mayers, Kaia had one T20I fifty to his name before Thursday, his only other score of more than 30 in 20 innings, but his debut has defied those numbers. Namibia opted for a seam approach, not spin as they usually do, so Kaya was anticipating short lengths and was the picture of confidence when he picked up Robin Trumbleman from hip to fine leg in his first four overs and then hooked him for six in the same over.
Instead of adjusting their plans, Namibia continued to bat short, and Kaya responded with a powerful array of leg-side shots. When Max Henjo finally had his fill, Kaya had an answer for that too. He shuffled his paper away and shook it halfway through. Zimbabwe were 59 for 1 after the Powerplay with Kaia on 36. Kaia met the spin in the form of Jan-Nicol Loftie-Eaton with a shot that went straight past the bowler for four and then reached the fifty off Jack Brassell with another fine pull. He held Zimbabwe 33 runs short of victory before hitting one big shot too many. Kaya outplayed Brasil against Erasmus midway through the match and was sent off for 72.
