Teams Status
New Zealand
The second spot from Group 2 behind Pakistan is currently occupied by New Zealand, and they’d keep hold of it if they do not suffer any upsets in their remaining two matches, the first of which is against Namibia.
The Kiwis, through their first three matches, have done reasonably well, apart from the loss to Pakistan, although even that was a close match until Asif Ali happened.
They crushed India and then were given a small bit of scare by Scotland towards the end of their clash but Kane Williamson’s men kept things professional and won by 16 runs, which is not a lot when you consider the size of their opposition but a win is a win.
Namibia are not a side very dissimilar to Scotland in terms of composition. Thus, New Zealand will have to be careful of not letting the Africans come even as close to getting a result as the Scots did.
Namibia
Namibia have so far exceeded expectations and played far better than people expected them to. Making it this far and even notching a win in the main round over the far more experienced Scotland must be counted as an achievement.
Even in their defeats, they’ve had their positives. Like in the last game to Pakistan, their pace bowlers had impressed early on and restricted Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan to score freely.
Then, during the run chase, a total of 144-5 in pursuit of 190 wasn’t a bad effort considering they were up against a world-class bowling unit. That said, can they punch way above their weight and threaten to cause an upset here? That’s very unlikely.
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