South Africa suffered an embarrassing 18-run defeat to Namibia in the first match of the T20I Tri-Series, which is currently underway in Namibia.
Delving into the details of the game, Namibia was tasked to bat first, and they posted a good-looking total of 163/9 in 20 overs. Jan Frylinck (60) and Louren Steenkamp (41) were the top batters. Prenelan Subrayen scalped a three-fer.
In reply, South Africa managed to score only 145/9 in 20 overs, losing the game by 18 runs. Dewald Brevis was the top scorer with 75 runs, but his knock went in vain. Ruben Trumpelmann and JJ Smith scalped three important wickets apiece.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, South African skipper Bjorn Fortuin expressed his disappointment over the 18-run defeat, adding that his players need to pull up their socks and perform well in the forthcoming games.
“Obviously, very disappointed with the loss today. Namibia played really well, and hopefully we can pull our socks up and come back stronger. I think overall maybe 20, 30 runs too much, in our opinion, especially with the standards that we set for ourselves. I thought that we sort of lost our way in the powerplay a little bit with the ball, and then obviously them getting off to a good start with the ball as well sort of put us on the back foot. So it’s just all about adapting better the next game and setting up a platform for our players to do their best,” Bjorn Fortuin said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Interestingly, South Africa suffered two consecutive defeats to Namibia in the shortest format of the game in the last 10 months.
