Veteran Namibia allrounder David Wiese admitted that the experience of playing in various T20 leagues around the world came in handy in a crunch scenario against Oman in their opening T20 World Cup encounter. Namibia stuttered against Oman and were on the verge of going down before settling for a Super Over.
Wiese then stepped up with both bat and ball in the Super Over that helped Namibia finally put Oman away. “I think it was a really tight game, a bit tighter for our liking,” Wiese admitted after the game. “But definitely playing in the franchise tournaments, playing against some of the best players in the world, and playing the best tournaments in the world, that has helped me learn and develop into how to play in certain situations. Playing so many franchise tournaments, I’ve been in those situations before. And that’s what you’re talking about, the experience. And I’ve also played a couple of CPLs now, so I know the conditions. And yeah, it just helped that I’ve been around the block a little bit, I suppose.”
Wiese said he was determined to make amends in the Super Over after failing to connect the last ball of the 20th over when Namibia needed two to win. “I was a bit frustrated and annoyed that I missed out on that last ball,” he said. “That was the first disappointment there. Then luckily, we scampered a single to go into the Super Over.
“And then from there, I think I was just in the zone from there. I wanted to rectify my mistakes. I wanted to go in there and be the guy to put in the big performance. And luckily for me, the team entrusted me with that role. And I knew with the batting the Super over, if I got one or two early, I could put them under pressure. And then we could try and just take it out of their reach.”
Wiese also refused to blame the surface for playing slow and admitted that there were lessons to be learnt from the win going forward in the tournament. “I think you kind of remember the days of Kensington having a little bit of bounce and pace and when we got there today it looked like a good pitch, it looked like a good wicket and we thought it was going to just play through the whole time – but obviously it got a little bit slower, it’s got a little bit lower also and it wasn’t the easiest wicket to start on,” he observed.
“But that’s no excuse, when you’re in that position, the best teams in the world just go tooth and nail and win there with two or three overs to spare. So, we did make a little bit hard work for us. I even felt going to the last over only needing five we should have just knocked it off there and then obviously things didn’t go to plan – but we got the win in the end. We got the two points and we’ve learned a lot of lessons and now we’ve got to take that forward into our next game over here.”
Meanwhile, Oman’s Zeeshan Maqsood pointed out that his side weren’t too confident after putting up only 109 on the board but commended his bowlers for keeping things tight and dragging the contest right till the end. “Honestly, we were not that confident, but we know we have that ability to fight back, and we have previously won games with 130 runs, in 2019 we defended that,” he recalled. “So low totals our team always goes full flat. So we put everything that we have – so slowly I think that’s how the Namibian side… we just kept them quiet, we didn’t give so many loose balls where they can score runs. So outstanding comeback. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it in the Super Over.”
Maqsood also lauded Wiese for delivering in the Super Over with the ball that denied his side a win. “That time we batted first and we scored 21 runs (in Oman’s previous Super Over vs Nepal). But here we were batting second and we had to chase 21 runs. And the quality (of the) bowler, David Wiese, he has plenty of experience. So that experience he used and he bowled very well. He didn’t give any width. He bowled outstanding. And the positive things were definitely the way we were fighting. They’re outstanding and the bowlers, they have bowled very well. So that is a positive thing. The unity, Aqib brings so many ideas, who should bowl, who should not bowl. He shows his skills also. So that’s how a team should play.”
