T20 World Cup: David Wiese's 55 in vain as UAE eliminate Namibia, Netherlands enter Super 12

After Sri Lanka made it to the Super 12 round, of the T20 World Cup, with a 16-run win over the Netherlands in the qualifiers on Thursday (October 20), the onus was on Namibia to join them with a victory over UAE in Group A's last encounter. Namibia, who beat Sri Lanka in their tournament opener, failed to chase a modest 149 and were restricted to 141 for 8 in 20 overs to lose by seven runs and miss out on a Super 12 berth. From Group A, Sri Lanka will join Pool A in the next round whereas the Dutch line-up will be a part of the Team India-starrer Pool B.

Talking about the contest, UAE won the toss and opted to bat first. Riding onMuhammad Waseem's 41-ball 50, UAE were off to a cautious start. In the last few overs, the upped the ante courtesy of vital knocks from skipperChundangapoyil Rizwan (29-ball 43) andBasil Hameed's 14-ball 25 not out. Namibia paid the price for leaking as many as 33 runs in the last 12 balls as UAE posted a competitive 149 for 3.

In reply, Namibia were off to a nervy start and lost wickets at regular intervals to be reeling at 46 for 5. Their chase was going nowhere before all-rounder David Weise's 36-ball 55 andRuben Trumpelmann's 24-ball 25 kept them alive. Weise's big hits brought the chase alive and infused an intense battle in the last few overs before he fell with his side needing 10 off 3 balls.

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Waseem, who returned with the Player-of-the-Match award, kept his nerves to bowl a fantastic last over and conceded only half a dozen runs to take his side to a thrilling seven-run win as they bowed out of the showpiece event with a win from three games. For Namibia, they will be gutted about missing out on a Super 12 berth as they only needed a win to go past the Netherlands line-up and progress ahead.

At the post-match presentation, UAE skipper CP Rizwan said, "A great moment for UAE cricket. I would like to thank our coach and the management. We had been doing well in patches, but today everything clicked together. (On Waseem's bowling at the death) He used to bowl a lot of death overs in our domestic cricket, and with the dew I backed my instinct of bowling medium pacers. This win is really big for UAE cricket, it can tell the world that we are here!"