Namibia (138-4, 20 overs)(G Erasmus 34; G Delany 1-11, B McCarthy 1-21) beat Ireland (127 all out, 19.5 overs)(Paul Stirling 37, Lorcan Tucker 34; Ben Shikongo 3-11) by 11 runs. Scorecard here.
A middle-order batting collapse undid strong work with the ball as Ireland fell to defeat in their opening official T20 World Cup warm-up against Namibia.
Playing the side that knocked them out of the last World Cup in 2021 at an empty Melbourne Cricket Ground with fans not allowed in for the warm-ups, Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker both got starts with scores in the 30 as Ireland went after a reasonably low total, only for a flurry of wickets in the middle and lower order to cost them what at one stage looked like a comfortable victory.
David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann and Jan Frylinck all took a pair of wickets but the undoubted match-winner was Ben Shikongo, his 3-11 including three wickets in the 16th over turning the game on its head and leaving the Irish tail with too much to do.
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After losing the toss and being asked to bowl, Ireland started well, restricting Namibia’s boundaries in the powerplay and striking in the third over, Barry McCarthy getting Divan la Cock to drive a full delivery straight to Stephen Doheny in the covers. Doheny was playing after captain Andrew Balbirnie pulled out of the game in the warm-up, though his issue - believed to be an illness rather than injury - is not thought to be serious.
Michael van Lingen (26) and Nicol Loftie-Eaton (15) consolidated to ensure no further wickets were lost in the powerplay, but both departed to spin. Van Lingen skied Gareth Delany to long-on, while Loftie-Eaton found deep mid-wicket off Simi Singh.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus played sedately from there, ending unbeaten on 35 off 36 balls. While Jan Frylinck countered a touch with four boundaries in his cameo of 26 off 16 - Curtis Campher ending his innings with a sharp run-out off his own bowling. Namibia could not find a late, game-changing flurry of power hitting at the death as their total of 138-4 looked more than gettable.
In response, Ireland started solidly, Paul Stirling finding three early boundaries while Doheny launched JJ Smit over the rope on the off-side. He departed in the sixth over, skying Trumpelmann into the off side to leave Ireland 45-1 at the end of their first six overs, still well set to chase.
That figured without the boot of Frylinck, who kicked the ball onto the stumps to run out Stirling while looking for a quick single. Tucker hung around as Ireland looked to build back into the chase, but watched a stream of wickets fall at the other end, no more so than that fateful 16th over: Delany chipped one to extra-cover on the ring, Campher holed out in the deep while Mark Adair chopped on all off that set of six from Shikongo.
Singh ended unbeaten on 11 but the match came to a close when Josh Little skied a short delivery on the last ball. Ireland return to action on Thursday against Sri Lanka in their final warm-up match.
