‘Weren’t good enough’: South Africa stunned by cricket minnow in final-ball thriller

A burst of late hitting by wicketkeeper Zane Green took Namibia to a shock win over South Africa in a one-off T20I on Saturday.

Green, who finished on 30 not out, hit 23 of the 26 runs scored by Namibia in the last two overs of the first international match between the neighbouring African countries.

With 11 needed off the last over, Green hooked the first ball from Andile Simelane for six. With the scores level, he hit the last ball of the match to the midwicket boundary for the winning runs.

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The match was arranged to inaugurate the Namibia Cricket Ground, which will be one of the venues for the 2027 Cricket World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

“You can see what it means, for the team and the crowd,” said Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus after leading his players on a victory lap in front of a capacity crowd.

“The guys did it with good skill.”

It was a below-strength South African team, with several leading players, including regular captain Aiden Markram, in Pakistan for a Test series which starts in Lahore on Sunday.

All the South African players had international experience but they struggled from the start against a Namibian team who a week earlier qualified for next year’s T20 World Cup in India.

“We weren’t good enough,” admitted stand-in South African captain Donovan Ferreira.

He said his team’s defence of a below-par total had been hurt by a chest muscle injury which forced fast bowler Gerald Coetzee off the field after bowling only nine balls.

Quinton de Kock, returning to international cricket for the first time since the 2024 T20 World Cup, was out for a single in the first over and none of the South African batsmen were able to dominate against disciplined bowling on a slow pitch.

South Africa laboured to 8-134 after winning the toss. Left-arm fast bowler Ruben Trumpelmann, who started his cricket career in South Africa, took 3-28 and new cap Max Heingo took two wickets in the space of three balls to reduce the visitors to 65 for five in the 11th over.

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