BRIDGETOWN – Scot­land got their first win against Namib­ia in a Twen­ty20 In­ter­na­tion­al in their Group B match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on Thurs­day in Bar­ba­dos, led by an un­beat­en 47 from their cap­tain Richie Berring­ton.

Berring­ton lashed two fours and two six­es from 35 balls af­ter the Scots looked in trou­ble in their chase of 156, and he helped them clinch a win at Kens­ing­ton Oval that pro­pelled to the sum­mit of the group on three points.

Scot­land limped to 43 for one at the close of the Pow­er Play, and they were 78 for four at the drinks break at the halfway stage of their chase, but Berring­ton and Michael Leask joined forces to put on 74 for the fifth wick­et to turn around the con­test for their side.

When Leask, the Play­er-of-the-Match, was caught at long-on off left-arm pac­er Ruben Trumpel­mann in the 18th over for 35 off 17 balls dec­o­rat­ed with four six­es, the Scots re­quired 10, and Berring­ton for­malised the re­sult with a six over long-on off the pace of David Wiese with nine balls re­main­ing.

Ear­li­er, a res­olute 52 from Namib­ia cap­tain Ger­hard Eras­mus en­abled his side to reach 155 for nine af­ter they de­cid­ed to bat.

Eras­mus struck five fours and two six­es from 31 balls, and he was an­chor of his side’s re­vival af­ter they stum­bled to 37 for three in­side the Pow­er Play.

He added 51 for the fifth wick­et with wick­et­keep­er-bats­man Zane Green be­fore Leask, bowl­ing his off-spin, got him stumped in 14th over.

Green made 28, but none of the oth­er bats­men got to 20, and Brad Wheal was the pick of the Scot­land bowlers tak­ing three for 33 from his al­lot­ted four overs.

Group B con­tin­ues on Sat­ur­day when Eng­land and arch-ri­vals Aus­tralia meet at 1 p.m. at Kens­ing­ton Oval, while the Scots meet Oman at the Vi­vian Richards Crick­et Ground on Sun­day in An­tigua, where Namib­ia will meet the Aussies next Tues­day un­der the lights.

Scores:

NAMIB­IA 155 for nine off 20 overs (Ger­hard Eras­mus 58, Zane Green 29; Brad Wheal 3-33, Brad Cur­rie 2-16).

SCOT­LAND 157 for five off 18.3 overs (Richie Berring­ton 47 not out, Michael Leask 35, Michael Jones 26; Ger­hard Eras­mus 2-29).

Play­er of the Match: Michael Leask (Scot­land)

CMC