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England see off Namibians

Wednesday, February 19 2003

A five-wicket haul from Rudi van Vuuren and a wonderful 86 from Jan Burger put Namibia within sight of an epoch-shattering victory over England at Port Elizabeth. However, England's experience won the day in the end - but not before getting the fright of their lives from the minnows.

England came into the game making one change from the lineup that comfortably saw off Holland, with captain Nasser Hussain making way for Ronnie Irani due to a stiff neck that was being given more time to recover ahead of the Pakistan game. Expericened wicket-keeper Alec Stewart took over the captain's armband. Namibia were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at the hands of the Pakistanis, and brought in a third Burger, all-rounder Sarel, to the side at the expense of out-of-sorts opener Riaan Walters.

It didn't start too promisingly for the English, as Marcus Trescothick and Nick Knight set off at a pace more akin to Sunil Gavaskar's infamous 36* than anything England's fans had become accustomed to from the left-handed pair. Louis Burger's tendency to catch anything that came anywhere near him didn't help, as first Knight (6) and then Michael Vaughan (14) deposited deliveries from rugby union international Rudi van Vuuren into the 21-year-old's hands.

Jan Burger then broke up the burgeoning partnership between Trescothick (58) and Stewart (60), with Louis again the man there to take the catch. From then on, England never threatened to really cut loose as batsman after batsman got themselves in, made double figures, and then made their way back to the pavilion again. Andy Flintoff hit two sixes and Craig White 35 off 29 balls. Gerrie Snyman picked up three middle-order wickets before van Vuuren returned to knock over the last three wickets to finish with superb figures of 5-43 off his 10 overs as England stuttered to 272 all out - what still looked to be an easily defendable total, especially after Pakistan had made such light work of their top order at the weekend.

Namibia's innings started as England expected. with James Anderson removing Stephen Swanepoel and Andy Flintoff taking a return catch off Louis Burger. However, England hadn't passed Jan Burger a copy of the script for the match, and the Namibian opener proceeded to write his own. Throwing caution to the wind, he crashed a magnificent 85 off 86 balls, including 10 fours and a six. Whilst he and Daniel Keulder were still at the crease, there was always the chance that the Namibians could just do the impossible. A fantastic diving catch from Paul Collingwood put an end to Burger's wonderful innings. He had hit 85 of Namibia's 139-3, and the Namibians were still ahead of the Duckworth/Lewis tables, with clouds threatening. Keulder and Bryan Murgatroyd kept the dream alive for another eight overs, with the D/L tables showing the game was still finely balanced, until the pressure of the run chase got to Keulder, and he was run out by Marcus Trescothick going for a second run that just wasn't there on 46. Gerrie Snyman's off-stump was knocked back next ball by Craig White, and England breathed a collective sign of relief. Namibia's middle and lower order failed to put up much resistance, with Murgatroyd chopping on off Irani, captain Bjorn Kotze missing one from Flintoff in the desperation to keep up wit h the asking rate. Sarel Burger cut Irani to Collingwood at backward point and Bjorn Kotze was trapped leg before for the second golden duck of the innings. Rudi van Vuuren and keeper Melt van Schoor kept England at bay for the remaining five overs, with van Vuuren dispatching James Anderson's last ball of the day into the crowd at long off to end the innings on 217/9, 55 runs behind.

It was a magnificent effort from the Namibians, who can now head for Pietermaritzburg to play India with their heads held high. England, on the other hand, look towards Cape Town for their meeting with Pakistan fresh from cricket's equivalent of an electrified cattle-prod up the backside. To look at it from an Australian point of view... they won, and that's what matters.

England 272 (AJ Stewart 60, ME Trescothick 58, RJ van Vuuren 5-43, G Snyman 3-69)

Namibia 217-9 (AJ Burger 85, D Keulder 46, RC Irani 3-30)

England won by 55 runs

Points: England 4, Namibia 0

Posted by Neil