T20 World Cup warm-up: McMullen 95 in vain as Namibia pip Scotland
In a high-scoring thriller at the BCCI CoE Ground 2 in Bengaluru, Namibia prevailed over Scotland by a mere margin of six runs over Scotland in their T20 World Cup warmup fixture on Wednesday (February 4) despite Brandon McMullen's sparkling 95.
Having opted to bat first, Namibia's opening duo of Jan Frylinck (88) and Louren Steenkamp (51) went on a rampage, amassing 79 in the powerplay. Their partnership of 137 finally ended in the 11th over as leggie Chris Greaves dismissed Frylinck but an unbeaten 33 from captain Gerhard Erasmus and Ruben Trumpelmann's rapid 25 took Namibia to a whopping total of 226 for 4.
Scotland lost Michael Jones early in the chase but McMullen was in a menacing mood, wallopping six fours and eight sixes in his 39-ball knock. Mark Watt (33) and skipper Richie Berrington (46) duly played the support role at a brisk pace and it seemed as though Scotland would pull it off when 12 runs were needed off the final over. However, JJ Smit held his nerve admirably in the last over, castling Berrington while giving away just five runs to seal the deal for Namibia.
Brief Scores: Namibia 226/4 in 20 overs (Jan Frylinck 88, Louren Steenkamp 51, Mark Watt 1-19, Chris Greaves 1-33) beat Scotland 220/5 in 20 overs (Brandon McMullen 95, Richie Berrington 46, Max Heingo 2-44, Gerhard Erasmus 1-29) by six runs.
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