Gerhard Erasmus:
“I thought we did well in patches with the ball to keep them to under 150, but I think it was much higher than par. All in all, quite disappointing to let them get away with a few cheap softballs in between but I thought the fielding and bowling stuck together quite nicely. [Asked how it feels to beat Sri Lanka on day one but not qualify for the Super 12s] That’s the art of tournament cricket, the momentum swings that happen. Often the momentum swings aren’t in your control and you need to as a professional, react well.
After the high of the first game, the momentum swung against us and we couldn’t quite get over the line and play well enough cricket for the next two games to get through. [On Wiese] He’s one of those experienced guys that is a matchwinner. He plays all around the world and lots of the guys in the team have learned a lot from him. He showed once again today that he’s world-class, taking it to close out of nowhere. That was sort of the trend of the last two games, really being out of it and showing what we are about, which is a well-coached unit and a bunch of guys that stick together quite nicely. But as I said, I don’t think we played enough to get through.”
CP Rizwan:
“First of all, I would like to thank almighty Allah. It is a great moment for UAE Cricket, the first-ever victory in a World Cup. So I’m really grateful. I would first of all like to thank our coach, Robin [Singh] sir, and our management who kept believing in us. We were doing it in patches but it was just a matter of time. Today all departments clicked so I’m really happy about the win. [On bowling Waseem at the end] It was an instinctive decision because he used to bowl a lot of death bowling in our domestic cricket.
I thought since there was a little dew, a fast bowler or medium pacer can do the job. So I backed my instinct and he did the job. [On the impact of this win in the UAE] It will build momentum going forward for UAE Cricket. We want to grow on this and show world cricket that we are here not just to compete but to make an impact.”
Muhammad Waseem is named Player of the Match not only for his half-century in the first innings but for his unlikely death bowling.
Namibia vs United Arab Emirates Highlights today. 10th Match, First Round Group A (N), GMHBA Stadium, South Geelong, Victoria, Thursday 20-10-2022, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Toss: U.A.E. chose to bat.
Namibia team: 1 Muhammad Waseem, 2 Vriitya Aravind (wk), 3 CP Rizwan (capt.), 4 Alishan Sharafu, 5 Aayan Khan, 6 Basil Hameed, 7 Fahad Nawaz, 8 Karthik Meiyappan, 9 Ahmed Raza, 10 Junaid Siddique, 11 Zahoor Khan.
United Arab Emirates team: 1 Stephan Baard, 2 Michael van Lingen, 3 Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 4 Gerhard Erasmus (capt.), 5 Jan Frylinck, 6 JJ Smit, 7 David Wiese, 8 Zane Green (wk), 9 Ruben Trumpelmann, 10 Bernard Scholtz, 11 Ben Shikongo.
Head to Head In T20I’s: 1
Namibia Won: 1
United Arab Emirates Won: 0
Namibia T20I Rankings: 14th
United Arab Emirates T20I Rankings: 16th
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 Points Table
Form guide
(last five completed Tests, most recent first)
Namibia LWWWL
United Arab Emirates LLLLL
Match Timings: 8:00 AM GMT | 7:00 PM Local
Umpires – Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough
TV Umpire – Joel Wilson
Match Referee – Ranjan Madugalle
Reserve Umpire – Marais Erasmus
Match number – T20I no. 1836
