Namibia beat South Africa to kickstart home tri-series 

Namibia v South Africa scorecard

Namibia sealed a memorable 18-run win in the home tri-series opener over South Africa in the capital city of Windhoek. 

The match marked only the second time the two teams squared off in T20Is, with Namibia having emerged victorious on both occasions. The result comes as a big positive for Namibia, who are the co-hosts of next year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup alongside South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Fans from around the world can tune in to watch all the matches of the momentous tri-series, including the final, which will be streaming live on ICC.tv.

After being put in to bat first in Windhoek, Namibia posted 163/9 in their 20 overs, with opener Jan Frylinck compiling 60 runs off 38 deliveries. 

Chasing the total, South Africa lost both openers Jordan Hermann and Lhuan-dre Pretorius inside the powerplay.

ALL THE DETAILS ABOUT NAMIBIA, SOUTH AFRICA AND ZIMBABWE TRI-SERIES

Dewald Brevis went on to launch a rescue act, scoring 75 runs off 50 balls, an innings that saw him clear the ropes five times in addition to four more boundaries.

Having been a key contributor with the bat, JJ Smit went on to clinch three wickets, conceding only 31 runs. Meanwhile, Ruben Trumpelmann secured bowling figures of 3/24.

“It feels surreal,” Smit said afterwards. “We beat the Proteas again. Just a really proud moment for Cricket Namibia and Namibia as a whole.”

Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus also echoed the sentiment about the significance of the win holds.

“I think this is very important in the sense that it shows that we do belong, and it wasn't a once-off,” he said post-match.

“That or any of our other previous big wins weren't once-off. So we've shown it on home turf now as well, not only World Cups and last year's win, we've shown on home turf that we can be a consistent cricketing team in this format and compete with the best.”

Erasmus added that it was the opening stand between Frylinck and Louren Steenkamp, who added 84 runs for the first wicket, 57 off which came in the powerplay.

“I think the buy-in of the players asking to go at the game. I think in that powerplay the batters set that specific tone, and then guys will always follow if your leaders do that type of work.”

Erasmus believes that the job is only half done and that the team has their sights set on booking their spot in the summit clash.

South Africa will face Zimbabwe in the next game on August 29 in Windhoek.

Broadcast details

Fans from around the world can tune in to watch all the matches of the momentous tri-series, including the final, which will be streaming live on ICC.tv. Fans can also catch the action via:

- OneAfrica TV: Namibia and Zimbabwe 
- SuperSport: All African territories, except Namibia and Zimbabwe
- FanCode: India
- Styx:  Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka 
- ICC.tv: Rest of world, including all African territories except Namibia and Zimbabwe