The Namibian women’s cricket team was last involved in a women’s T20I quadrangular series in April earlier this year. The tournament featured national teams of Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, and Uganda, alongside Namibia. They started the tournament with a bang, with five wins on the trot. However, they lost to Uganda by a slender margin of 3 runs in the final.
The Namibian women’s team’s next assignment was their tour to UAE for a limited-overs series, involving six T20Is which commenced on 26th September 2023 and concluded on 3rd October 2023. The home side sealed a convincing 19-run victory over Namibia in the first T20I. The 19-year-old wicket-keeper batter Theertha Satish played a crucial role with the bat, scoring her eighth half-century in the T20Is, scoring at just over a run-a-ball strike rate of 101.88.
The 17-year-old pace bowling all-rounder Indhuja Nandakumar played a crucial role with the ball in helping her side clinch the first T20I and go 1-0 up in the series. She gave away just four runs in her spell, including a maiden, alongside picking up the wicket of the opening batter Jurriene Diergaardt.
Namibia secures their maiden series win with a momentous victory over hosts UAE! 😍#CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/2SyfCxNJAd
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) October 3, 2023
However, the visitors, Namibia bounced back in style to seal a historic series victory by winning the next four T20Is. The Namibian top order led by the opening batter Yasmeen Khan inspired the fightback as she anchored the run chase with an unbeaten 57-ball 62 as the visitors sealed a comprehensive 9-wicket victory while chasing down the target of 111 with two overs to spare to kickstart their redemption in the series.
In the third T20I, Namibia chased down the target of 72 with more than 11 overs to spare as they sealed a comprehensive 8-wicket victory. Yasmeen Khan (43 off 24 balls) yet again starred with the bat for Namibia. In the fourth T20I, UAE won the toss and elected to field first and restricted Namibia to 98/5 in their quota of overs. Namibia showed up with a spirited bowling performance to strangle UAE’s batting lineup as they sealed a 7-run victory in the fourth T20I.
In the fifth T20I UAE won the toss and opted to bat first and they were bundled out for 66, courtesy of a clinical performance from the bowling unit. Kayleen Green (4-1-15-3), Victoria Hamunyela (4-0-12-3), and Wilka Mwatile (3.3-1-3-3) were the top performers with the ball for Namibia. The visitors chased down the 67-run target with eight wickets in hand and more than seven overs to spare to complete a historic series win in the T20Is against UAE.
The United Arab Emirates won the toss and opted to field first in the 6th and the final T20I. The home side restricted Namibia to 97/8 in their quota of overs. Opening batter Yasmeen Khan (48 off 46 balls) was the top performer with the bat for Namibia. Samaira Dharnidharka (3/21), Khushi Sharma (2/13), and, Vaishnave Mahesh (2/15) were the top performers with the ball for UAE.
The United Arab Emirates chased down the 98-run target with eight balls to spare and with nine wickets in hand.
Namibia eventually sealed a historic series, their first-ever series victory against the United Arab Emirates. Namibia’s Yasmeen Khan was the top run-scorer with 194 runs with an average of 38.80. UAE’s Samaira Dharnidharka was the top wicket-taker for UAE with eight wickets to her name with an impressive average of 8.25.
