Namibia kicked off their ICC T20 World Cup campaign with a thrilling victory, narrowly edging out Oman in a last-over finish at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Monday.

Namibia’s win, by a hair’s breadth a hair’s breadth points, also creates more intrigue at the start of the competition. David Wiese played the superhero role for his continent, smashing a four and six in a super over to take his side to 21 runs total. Captain Gerhard Erasmus added a crucial eight runs, including two boundaries.

Oman needed 22 runs in the Super Over to win, but they still needed to meet their target, falling short only at 10. The one that Zeeshan Maqsood hit was hardly hopeless, but once Wiese took the wicket of Aamir Kaleem, it quickly became a reality for his opponents. Naseem Khushi and captain Aqib Ilyas managed only two and one run, putting Oman out of the competition.

The drama unfolded in the nail-biting end of the overs. Chasing a modest total of 110, Namibia was pushed to the wall. The game turned when Mehran Khan of Oman changed the course with his two key wickets in the last over, leaving only five runs for Namibia to win.
Namibia previously demonstrated spectacular bowling. Jan Frylinck took his team’s highest 45 runs, and Nicholas Davin and Erasmus helped with 24 and 13 runs, respectively. Khan was the star of Oman’s bowling attack, with three wickets. Aqib Ilyas, Bilal Khan, and Ayan Khan helped by taking one wicket each.

Oman batted first after losing the toss and was all out for only 109 in 19.4 overs. Khalid Kail steered their inning as he chipped in with a commendable 34, and later innings was built up by Maqsood, who scored a quickfire cameo towards the end of the innings.

Reuben Trumpelmann’s four-wicket burst for a mere 21 runs led Namibia’s bowling attack to victory against Oman. Wiese took three wickets, and Erasmus and Bernard Scholtz contributed two and one to wrap up a brilliant bowling performance.