Namibia beat Oman in Super Over to clinch Barbados thriller

David Wiese and Gerhard Erasmus made the most of Bilal Khan's pace and hit four boundaries to take 21 runs off Namibia's allotted Super Over.

Defending 110, Bilal Khan gave Oman the perfect start, bowling opener Michael van Lingen for a duck off the very second ball of the innings. While both Nikolaas Davin and Jan Frylinck tried to go for their shots, they were troubled by the uneven bounce in the initial stages of the chase.

The duo managed to preserve their wicket despite a number of hits and misses, and Namibia were 32/1 at the end of the powerplay period. Thereafter, skipper Aqib Ilyas employed spinners and medium pacers to take the pace off the ball. As the runs dried up, Davin tried to take on Aqib's spin.

After seven dot balls in a row, Aqib was dispatched for a six by Davin. However, the wily spinner had his revenge off the very next ball when he had Davin caught by Mohammad Nadeem.

Disciplined spin bowling from Aqib and Zeeshan Maqsood put brakes on Namibia's scoring rate in the middle overs. For his part, Namibia skipper Gerhard Erasmus tried to keep the scoring rate closer to run a ball along with Frylinck. The game of nerves saw Oman drop crucial catches but eventually, Maqsood held one off Ayaan Khan to dismiss Erasmus (13) in the 15th over.

The set Frylinck took initiative at this stage and hit a flurry of boundaries to bring the asking rate at par with three overs remaining. A superb 18th over from Mehran Khan gave away just four byes and picked JJ Smit's wicket. A six from David Wiese in the 19th over, helped bring the equation to five off the final over.

Mehran who had given just four runs off two overs thus far brought up his wickets tally up from one to three in the first three balls of the final over, bowling Frylinck and trapping Zane Green (0) lbw. The equation eventually came to two off one with the aggressive Wiese up against the wily Mehran. Wiese couldn't connect but the wicket-keeper fumbled the ball, and the batters stole a bye. The game went into a Super Over.

Erasmus won the toss and decided to field first in Barbados. Opposite number Aqib Ilyas wasn't perturbed by the fact that his side had to bat first, believing that the ball would come well to the bat and improve their scoring opportunities.

Ruben Trumpelmann was into the act in the first over. Off the very first ball he trapped Oman opener Kashyap Prajapati lbw for a duck with a pinpoint yorker. Off the very next ball, he bowled yet another scintillating yorker which caught Oman skipper Aqib Ilyas unaware, and the batter fell lbw for a duck.

The left-arm pacer had a third in his second over when Naseem Khushi tried to take him down the track, but could only find Erasmus at mid-off. Experienced hand Zeeshan Maqsod held the innings together in the first Powerplay, steadying the Oman innings while bringing the scoring rate to run a ball.

However, Bernard Scholtz had him leg before wicket in the seventh over to setback Oman further. Disciplined bowling from the tweakers ensured that Oman's lower-order didn't take off with the change of pace. Scholtz and Erasmus continued providing breakthroughs for the Eagles even as Oman batters struggled to get the ball past the inner circle.

For a period of 44 deliveries between the 10th over and the 17th over, Oman failed to hit a single boundary. The Asian side tried to pick the scoring rate when Namibia pacers arrived in the death overs, but David Wiese and Trumpelmann chipped away at the tail and bowled out Oman before they could complete their quota of overs.