Ireland U19 pull one back in T20 Super Over

Ireland’s Under-19 women’s cricket team showed determination to achieve a dramatic first win in their ongoing T20 series against Namibia’s Capricorn Eagles A side on Wednesday.

The Irish youngsters had lost the first two matches convincingly, but with two back-to-back matches on Wednesday, the tourists managed to secure a tie in Match 3, before taking the win in a Super Over.

Namibia were more efficient in the afternoon, winning by six wickets to stretch their lead to 3-1 in the six-match series.

The series concludes on Saturday with matches 5 and 6 once again played back-to-back at the HP Oval in Olympia, starting at 09:00 and 14:00.

T20 MATCH 3

Ireland Women won the toss and elected to bat, posting 138/7 in their 20 overs.

Namibia bowler Sarafia Handiba dismissed both openers through catches – Rebecca Lowe for a duck and Millie Spence for 5 runs.

From 7/2 in the third over, Ireland started the rebuilding with more solid contributions by captain Alice Tector (26 off 17 balls; three fours and one six), Aisling Lawlor (19 off 20 balls, 2x4), Naimh Lowry (27 off 29 balls; 2x4) and Genevieve Morrissey (37 not out off 29 balls; 5x4).

Wilka Mwatile’s seam bowling delivered figures of three wickets for eight runs (one maiden) in three overs, which contributed to her being named player of the match later. Sarafia Handiba finished with 2/16 in 3 overs after her two early breakthroughs.

Namibia lost much of their top order to be pinned at just 40/4 after 10.1 overs, and 84/5 after 15.3 overs.

The wickets of captain Sunè Kotze-Wittmann (12 off 16 balls), Mezerly Gorases (17 off 25) was quickly followed by Bianca Maunel (5 off 14) and Alexa Vorster (2 off 6), which left the home side needing a strong recovery.

It came in the person of Wilka Mwatile, who played attacking cricket and stayed unbeaten on 42 not out off 17 balls (3x4 3x6). She found support from Naomi Benjamin (16 off 18) and especially Arrasta Diergaardt (33 not out off 25 balls; 2x4 1x6).

Needing 18 to win off the last over, Wilka and Arrasta combined to score 17 to tie the match and force a Super Over.

In the Super Over, Ireland’s Penny Speer conceded three runs off the first three balls to Wilka Mwatile, before getting Arrasta Diergaardt (0) out caught. Sunè Kotze-Wittmann then walked in for one dot ball and a boundary, which posted the Eagles’ 7/1 as the target for Ireland.

Wilka Mwatile then bowled the Super Over for Namibia, in which Ireland’s Alice Tector and Niamh Lowry each hit one four in their winning reply of 11/0.

T20 MATCH 4

The Namibians were pushed hard for almost the full duration, before managing to win somewhat comfortable by six wickets.

After being sent in to bat, Ireland U19 recovered from 24/2 and posted a competitive total of 173 for eight, built around opener Rebecca Lowe (run out by Sylvia Shihepo for 43 off 41 balls; 4x4 1x6) and number five Niamh Lowry (41 off 33 balls; 5x4).

Namibia’s co-captain for the series and leader on the day, Mekelaye Mwatile, dismissed three Irish batters (3/22 in 4 overs), with good support from Sylvia Shihepo (2/30 in 3 overs) and the young Jani-Mari van Heerden (2/30 in 4 overs). Monique Muller sent down an economical four overs (0/20, economy 5.00).

Namibia opened their innings with Bianca Manuel (38 off 41 balls; 5x4) and Hileni David (12 off 21 balls; no boundaries). Number three Kayleen Green (33 not out off 26 balls; 3x4 1x6) and number four Mekelaye Mwatile (42 off 27 balls; 3x4 1x6) scored the bulk of the home sides’ runs. The latter was named player of the match.

However, the Irish bowling unit lost the plot and conceded 49 extras (including 14 byes, 5 no-balls and 29 wides) which made Namibia’s task far easier, reaching the target after 19 overs.