Zimbabwe produced a stunning bowling performance to thrash Namibia’s senior women’s cricket team, the Capricorn Eagles by seven wickets in the final of the Capricorn Women’s Tri-Nation Series that took place here on Tuesday.
Zimbabwe won the toss and sent Namibia to bat first, a decision that played in their favour as they reduced Namibia to three wickets for one run (1/3) in the first two overs.
Fast pace bowler Nomvelo Sibanda produced a stunning bowling performance by claiming three wickets of Juriene Diergaardt, Kayleen-Ann Green and Sunè Wittmann over successive balls for zero runs.
Namibia’s opener Edelle van Zyl then took matters into her own hands and stabilised the Eagles batting performance, scoring 24 runs from 20 balls with two fours and two sixes before being sent back to the pavilion.
Apart from Van Zyl and Adri van der Merwe (13 runs) none of the host’s batters managed double figures as Zimbabwe skittled Namibia all out for 70 runs in 13.3 overs.
Zimbabwe’s run chase started badly as opener Sharne Mayers was sent packing for a single run in the second over.
This left Kelies Ndhlovu and captain Mary-Anne Musonda with the easy task of finishing off the match as they each scored 33 and 21 respectively to lead their country to a seven-wicket victory in 9.3 overs.
Speaking after the game, Namibia’s captain Irene van Zyl said losing the three wickets in one over took the momentum from her team.
“We were still in with a chance even after that. All we needed was a good partnership of 40-50 runs. But we kept losing wickets at crucial times. It was great bowling by Zimbabwe,” she said.
She added that the Eagles are now looking forward to their tour of the Netherlands in June where they will play the hosts and Germany.
Musonda noted that Namibia improved from their previous meeting, adding that the series allowed her team to prepare for the global qualifiers scheduled for September.
“We came here with plans to try out certain things, hence we played according to our plans. Defeat in the first game brought us down to earth, but I am glad the girls came back stronger after that,” she said.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
