Sunday, August 30, 2009

Namibia U17s send strong message to Kenya

Namibia's Under 17s yesterday breezed passed Ghana in a matter of only 40 overs to set up today's clash with Kenya as the final of the Africa zone Under 17 championships.

Ghana won the toss, but that was about it as Namibia's bowlers ripped through their batting line up with only Gabriel Ananya (23), Festus Okine (14) and Isaac Aboagye (11) managing to reach double figures as the West Africans crumbled to 82 all out in just over 25 overs. Henry-Owen Bosman picked up the best figures for Namibia as he took 3 wickets for just 4 runs in cleaning up the tail, but in truth the hard work had already been done by the Englebrecht brothers and Johan Wessels.

Namibia's reply did meet some initial resistance from Ghana's opening bowlers who picked up 3 wickets, but Gert Lotter steered them home with an emphatic and unbeated 51 off just 29 deliveries.

This was a decisive win for a Namibian side that had lost the previous day in a warm up game to a Kenya select side featuring many of the U19 and best uncapped players from the NPCA league. They are a well drilled and talented side and Kenya's U17s will need to be at their best if they are going to do what their countrymen did a couple of days ago. Play starts at 9.30am at Nairobi Gymkhana.

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