Match

Namibia won by 31 runs

• Namibia: 321/6 (50 overs)
• Ireland: 290/10 (47.3 overs)

Namibia - 321/6 (50 overs)

Extras: 16

Ireland - 290/10 (47.3 overs)

Extras: 22

Commentary

• A captain's performance from Gerhard Erasmus has helped Namibia level the series with three games to go. The next game is on the 27th of this month. We will be there nice and early for that one. Do join us then. For now it's bye bye from all of us here.
• Erasmus 4/4: [On achieving his career-best performance and scoring his first ODI hundred against a Full Member nation, Ireland] Yeah, it feels like all my firsts are against Ireland. This is my first ODI hundred against a Full Member, obviously against Ireland. My debut 16 years ago, in 2011, was against Ireland. It's always special to play them. From the years of Porterfield and Joyce, who are now coaches - they were playing and now they're coaches - I feel like one of the old guys. So, yeah, it's probably my time to score my runs now as a senior statesman of the team. I always really enjoy my battles against them, and I've got very, very good friends amongst others from playing in leagues as well with the Irish boys.
• Erasmus 3/4: [On receiving the Player of the Match award and reflecting on his all-round contribution as captain] Yeah, yeah. I'm a guy that doesn't smile too often on the cricket field because I'm quite a serious captain, I guess. But every now and again, you have to pat yourself on the back when you've played well. And, yeah, I felt like I really steadied the ship and had the right tempo and sort of built up through the innings, and then obviously in the field I had to do my thing with the captaincy and the ball. [On when he felt settled at the crease during his innings] Yeah, to be honest, it probably wasn't my smoothest first 60 or 70 runs. I felt like I inside-edged a lot of balls and sort of didn't quite get my full face through the ball. But I felt that when they sort of dropped their lengths back, yeah, I could sort of play around with their lengths, and that's when I started feeling really settled, I think around 60 or 70. And then obviously, often when you go past a hundred, you try and release a bit, and so you kind of often top the first one, but luckily I got a few more in the middle towards the end.
• Erasmus 2/4: [On Jack Brassell taking four wickets on a familiar surface where he has played a lot of cricket in recent months] Yeah, definitely. He's bowled phenomenally well at times and then let himself down, you would say, at times with some indifferent, erratic stuff in between, but he himself would say that. And he's got such a high ceiling that, as a captain and, I guess, as management, you want him to reach it earlier rather than later, and he knows it himself, so he gets frustrated at times when he's a little bit off. But with that kind of pace and bounce, you're always in the reckoning for a wicket, and I don't believe we would have won that game had it not been for his four wickets. [On the pressure Namibia faced towards the end despite eventually securing the win] Yeah, definitely. I felt like, in a sense, we switched off when we could really kill off the game, and that, to me as a captain, is very disappointing. You know, you've got 11 members in the side, and it feels like someone just needs to put their hand up and rally the boys again. And it didn't quite come, and it didn't quite come, and it just sort of dragged on, and they got back in the game. And, yeah, it's just such a difficult ground to defend at the end, that even if you need two wickets, it always feels like a few massive blows from even a decent batter at number nine could sort of make it 10 runs an over. So, with three overs to go and 36 to get, I wasn't quite pleased on the field, and then tried to just take matters into my own hands and sort of just close down the game.
• Gerhard Erasmus | Player of the Match and Namibia captain 1/4: [On Namibia's batting performance and building a strong foundation through a big partnership with his partner] Yeah, I thought we obviously set up a very good foundation with a big partnership between myself and Frylinck. We set up a good foundation, I believe, and when it was time to go, we managed to really score big at the back end. [On Frylinck's contribution in supporting his innings and helping the team build momentum] Yeah, awesome. He obviously had to go in quite early and sort of steady the ship after the first wicket fell. Yeah, so he's been in red-hot form and he batted really well, and same with Loftie-Eaton and the other guys chipping in towards the back end. But, yeah, we know this ground very well, and we know that we can make it tough to defend at the back end of the innings, if - and that's what I tried to do.
• Paul Stirling | Ireland captain: [On Namibia's total of 321 and assessing the team's performance in the match] Yeah, I think so. I think we were outplayed today, to be honest with you. I think the difference between the two sides was their skipper, who knocked probably between 100 and 150. Those runs came really quickly, and he took the game away from us. We're pretty happy enough getting close to 300, but I think we should have been chasing roughly that or less. So, yeah, he took the game away from us, and fair play to Namibia. [On where the team fell short in bowling and batting] Yeah, I think in all departments again. I think we were slightly off. We constantly talk about putting 100 overs together, and we never quite get there. So, slightly off in the skill, slightly off in the execution, and that results in, you know, a 30 or 40-run loss. So, with the bat, I think we lost a cluster of wickets at the same time. We lost a few wickets in about five minutes. That really kills us in that chase. We need those wickets in hand to go hard in the last 10 overs. So, lots of areas we need to work on. Our death bowling was shy today as well. I'm not sure of the numbers yet, but I'm sure we went for well over 50 in those last five overs. So, yeah, lots for us to work on. And again, it's really good to be out here. We're finding our weaknesses as we go on, and certainly they got exposed today.
• 17:18 Local Time, 15:18 GMT, 20:48 IST: Gerhard Erasmus with a performance he won't forget in a hurry. Made 156 with the bat and then when the Moondra and Hoey threatened to pull off an unlikely heist, he takes 2 in the same over to end the game. Ireland started off steadily with a 54-run stand but a collapse saw them slip from 98-1 to 125/5. When Stirling fell as the 5th wicket, it looked like an easy win for Namibia but Dockrell and Campher rebuilt with a nice stand of 85. And then Moondra and Hoey added 58 in quick time to bring down the equation to 34 off 18. Erasmus brought himself on and ended things. Earlier Brassell was impressive as he took a four-fer with some key scalps in them. The series is level 1-1 with three matches to go. Stay tuned for the post-match stuff....
• 47.3: Gerhard Erasmus to Gavin Hoey, out Caught by Jack Brassell!! Fittingly Gerhard Erasmus ends things. What a game he has had. It's a flat good length on middle, Gavin Hoey pulls and the top-edge flies behind Zane Green. Short fine runs back and takes a simple catch. Namibia win by 31. Gavin Hoey c Jack Brassell b Gerhard Erasmus 31(21) [6s-3]
• Gerhard Erasmus to Gavin Hoey, THATS OUT!! Caught!!
• 47.2: Gerhard Erasmus to Byron McDonough, leg byes, 1 run, fired down leg, good length and Byron McDonough flicks and misses. They take a legbye
• Byron McDonough, right handed bat, comes to the crease
• 47.1: Gerhard Erasmus to Jai Moondra, out Caught&Bowled!! The skipper comes back and gets Jai Moondra. It's tossed up full outside off, Moondra gets forward to drive and doesn't keep it down. Erasmus takes it to his left. That was bowled from 24 yards something which Erasmus does often. Jai Moondra c and b Gerhard Erasmus 20(19) [4s-2]
• Gerhard Erasmus to Jai Moondra, THATS OUT!! Caught&Bowled!!
• 47.1: Gerhard Erasmus to Jai Moondra, wide, fired wide outside off. Past the tramline and left alone. Wide called
• Gerhard Erasmus [3.0-0-12-0] is back into the attack
• 46.6: Ruben Trumpelmann to Gavin Hoey, no run, full outside off, Gavin Hoey sinks low to reverse-sweep and misses
• 46.5: Ruben Trumpelmann to Jai Moondra, leg byes, 1 run, low full-toss and sliding down leg, Jai Moondra shimmies around in his crease. Flicks and misses. But they take a legbye
• 46.4: Ruben Trumpelmann to Jai Moondra, 2 runs, short on off, pacy delivery and Jai Moondra gets forward to pull, splices it and it falls in front of deep mid-wicket running in. They come back for two
• 46.3: Ruben Trumpelmann to Jai Moondra, FOUR, good improvisation from Jai Moondra. It's short on the stumps, Moondra backs away to ramp it over the keeper for a four
• 46.2: Ruben Trumpelmann to Jai Moondra, no run, good back of the hand slower-ball and on a length outside off, Jai Moondra swings and misses to leg. Doesn't carry to Zane Green