No consolation win for Namibia

Namibia’s cricket team failed to win their last match against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) qualifier tournament in New Zealand yesterday. The men from the Land of the Brave did well in the first group stage of the tournament as they won their first three fixtures. But they seemed to have lost momentum after losing their last group match against Papua New Guinea (PNG) and took that form into the Super Six section, where they lost to Scotland and Hong Kong. Khurram Khan once again steered UAE to a total that couldn't be overhauled in a 36-run win over Namibia at Rangiora to clinch the UAE's second World Cup berth and first since 1996. UAE won the toss and elected to bat first as Khan (49) was one of three players to get into the 40s without reaching 50 in UAE's total of 263. The score was 216 for 5 with two balls to go in the 45th but Louis Klazinga wiped out the tail, taking four of the last five wickets to fall, as Namibia bowled out UAE with one ball remaining in the innings. Namibia got off to a slow start in reply as captain Sarel Burger crawled to a half-century, eventually getting dismissed for 54 off 102 balls. Amjad Javed claimed 3 for 35 while Khan completed his solid all-round display with 2 for 45 to restrict Namibia to 227 for 9 in their 50 overs. "You can't describe in words the feeling. I've been playing for UAE since 2001 and it is an amazing feeling to help my team to qualify," Khurram later reflected. "It's a great achievement. It's been very, very hard to make it this far. Most of us are part time cricketers - we are not professionals. This is for everyone who trusted us and believed in us. LINCOLN-ESPNCRICINFO