Spinners lead UAE to six-wicket win over Namibia

It was a spinners’ day out in Windhoek on Thursday (September 21) as Imran Haider, the leg-spinner and Ahmed Raza, the left-arm spinner, ran through Namibia’s batting to give United Arab Emirates a six-wicket win in the 41st game of the ICC World Cricket League 2015-17.

The result helped UAE get above Namibia to No. 7 on the eight-team table, which is headed by the Netherlands.

Only two Namibia batsmen got to double-digits as it finished on 89 from 28.3 overs, and UAE crossed the target to reach 92 for 4 in just 25.1 overs.

Asked to bat first, Namibia lost Stephan Baard and Lohan Louwrens early to Mohammad Naveed, the medium pacer. But Louis Van Westhuizen (41 in 65 balls) and Craig Williams (25 in 43) staged a recovery, adding 46 runs for the third wicket. Once Rohan Mustafa, the off-spinner, struck in the 17th over to send back Westhuizen and Haider accounted for Williams in the very next over, however, Namibia’s batting resistance ended.

When Williams fell, the scoreboard read 74 for 4, but with Raza (3 for 18) and Haider (3 for 27) on song, there was nothing the Namibia batsmen could do, the last six wickets adding just 15 runs.

In reply, UAE took its time in getting to the mark and lost four wickets in the process.

Mustafa, the captain, was dismissed cheaply, while Ghulam Shabber, batting at No. 3, was also sent back early to leave UAE at 21 for 2, the two Burgers – Sarel and Petrus – picking up the two wickets respectively.

Chirag Suri controlled the chase for a while after that, top scoring with a patient 26 in 65 balls before Bernard Scholtz, the left-arm spinner, sent back Shaiman Anwar (15 in 21) and Suri inside the 20th over.

That’s about as good as it got for Namibia, though, as Adnan Mufti (21 not out in 23) and Rameez Shahzad (20 not out in 17) put together a 39-run stand for the fifth wicket to take UAE over the line.