Ireland and Namibia are locking horns in a virtual knock-out match in the T20 World Cup 2021 in Sharjah. The winner of this game will advance to the Super 12 stage of the tournament while the loser will go home.
Ireland won the toss and opted to bat first. Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien gave a good start to Ireland in the powerplay and proved captain Andrew Balbirnie’s decision right.
Also Read: Namibia secure maiden T20 World Cup win, Netherlands eliminated
Both Irish openers were going berserk inside the powerplay and scored 55 runs without allowing Namibia to make any breakthrough. Stirling got out for 38 to Bernard Scholtz but by then Ireland had scored 62. One brought two as O’Brien also got out in no time.
Balbirnie kept one end tight but the wickets kept falling from the other end. He couldn’t get any assistance from any of his teammates. Ireland scored just 63 runs in the last 13 overs of their innings and lost seven wickets. On contrary, they looted 55 runs in the powerplay.
Meanwhile, an unmissable event happened on the last ball of Ireland’s batting innings. David Wiese bowled a slower ball to Simi Singh, went for the reverse scoop. Despite seeing the ball well outside the off-stump, he still played his shot and ended up edging it to the pitch and ran for a risky single.
David Wiese picked up the ball and went for an underarm throw but failed to hit the stumps. The ball rolled towards the boundary ropes behind the wicketkeeper. Sensing an opportunity made by an overthrow, Irish batters ran to sneak another run. Simi Singh wasn’t aware of the overthrow and reacted late for the second run but made his way to the crease in time.
Also Read: Ireland’s Curtis Campher takes four wickets in four balls vs Netherlands, watch here
However, Craig Young was hyperactive and had already started the third run. Simi and Young were running parallel towards the same end at one point. The ball reached the wicketkeeper when Simi completed his second run while Young was already there in the same crease after completing his third run.
Seeing the opportunity, Simi started running the third run while the ball was in wicketkeeper’s gloves, who gave an underarm throw towards the bowler’s end but Namibia fielders made the hara-kiri and missed to hit the stumps despite Simi being at the middle of the pitch. The fielder failed to hit the stumps from one-hand range and Simi completed the third run.
See the video of this mad comedy of errors;
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Curtesy of that heroic triple on the last ball, Ireland managed to score 125/8 in 20 overs.
