England thrashed Namibia by 41 runs in rain-hit game of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday.
The match was reduced to 11 overs per side due to rain and it started after three hours. There was an interruption again during the eighth over with match being reduced to 10 overs per side.
The defending champions restricted the Eagles to 84/3 after scoring 122/5. Namibia had to chase 126 after Duckworth–Lewis–Stern (DLS) adjusted target due to rain.
Chasing the target, Namibia's Michael van Lingen and Nikolaas Davin only managed to add 43 runs in the first six overs. Davin (16 off 18) retired and Wiese partnered with Van Lingen.
The duo executed their strokeplay but couldn't get near the target. Van Lingen made 29-ball 33 while Wiese scored 12-ball 27.
Chris Jordan and Jofra Archer took a wicket each for England.
Batting first, English batters struggled in the beginning as skipper Jos Buttler (0) and Phil Salt (11) were dismissed early. However, Jonny Bairstow gave the batting lineup the much-needed support, leading them to put together an impressive total of 122 runs.
The pressure exerted at the start by the Namibian bowlers was relieved by this duo as they continued to score runs freely. They put up a 56-run partnership off 30 balls.
Harry Brook was the highlight of England's batting as he scored 47 runs from 20 balls. His innings included 4 fours and 2 sixes. Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow also hit 31 off 18 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes.
Earlier, Namibia invited England to bat first after winning the toss. The match has been reduced to 11 overs per side due to rain and the match is starting after three hours.
England need to win this game to stay in contention for the Super 8 since they have three points in three games.
Australia have already qualified for the Super 8 from Group A since they have won all of their games.
Meanwhile, Namibia are already out of the competition after winning only one game out of three.
England have three points in three games. A washout will help Scotland to qualify for the next round as they have five points from three games and England will remain at four points.
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (c& wk), Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley
Namibia: Nikolaas Davin, Michael van Lingen, Jan Frylinck, JP Kotze, Gerhard Erasmus (c), JJ Smit, David Wiese, Zane Green (wk), Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz, Jack Brassell
Visitors expected to land in Islamabad on January 6, and after practice match, will depart for Multan
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