The race for the Super 12 of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 is getting interesting with two upsets in two days. Namibia beat Sri Lanka to top the points table while Scotland defeated two-time champions West Indies. Namibia sits at the top of the points table while Scotland is in second place, followed by Zimbabwe and Netherlands in third and fourth place. All the top four teams have played and won a game each.
ICC T20 World Cup Points Table pic.twitter.com/fiw1sYSvbO— Akash Kharade (@cricaakash) 17 October 2022
Namibia will look to build on their impressive win over Sri Lanka when they face the Netherlands in Group A in Geelong – a potentially deciding match in determining the Super 12 qualifiers. Namibia stunned the cricketing world with their stunning win over Sri Lanka on Sunday, and Gerhard Erasmus’ side will move closer to sealing a spot in the Super 12 stage for the second successive Men’s T20 World Cup, should they find fellow opening- DE winners must beat Netherlands.
Rivals Netherlands could hardly have asked for a better start to their campaign and showed a calm head in their opener to go out of line against the United Arab Emirates. Max O’Dowd’s quick-witted knock during the powerplay allowed the rest of his teammates to keep up with the required run rate without taking too much risk – something that came in handy when wickets fell in the cluster during the chase . The Dutch could do with the highly rated Bass de Leede, with senior professionals Colin Ackerman and Tom Cooper adding more runs to the top order to take the pressure off O’Dowd.
Namibia’s Jan Frylink had a revelation with him hitting at the back end of the innings and will be someone the Netherlands will have to watch out for. But the Namibian top-order cheated on the opening day and, if the Dutch can use spin to good effect, they could be in a race to trouble themselves. Left-hander Fred Klaasen was excellent with the ball against UAE and set the tone to restrict his opponents to a sub-par score. Scott Edwards will once again turn to him to stop the flow of runs and take an early lead.
