Canada, despite several key players missing or struggling through injuries squeaked out a thrilling victory over Namibia yesterday at Windhoek. The last time the two teams met in Toronto it was Namibia who came out on top with a last over win by two wickets. This time the results were reversed, with Canada obtaining the winning runs from the 6th ball of the 50th over.

Canada started the match missing two key players, Nick Degroot suffering from damaged knee ligaments, and Muneeb Diwan a dislocated finger. In addition Sanjay Thuraisingam, who had missed the previous match with a respiratory infection, and Ashish Bagai, suffering from lower back problems, played although less than fully fit.

Canada opened the bowling with Joseph and Codrington, and it was Codrington who made the initial breakthrough, bowling van der Merwe for 2. The pace bowlers were not effective however, and Walters and Keulder saw Namibia past 50 without further loss. The introduction of the spinners drastically slowed the run rate, with the batsmen unable to get either Davison or Seeberan away. Davison bowled Walters, and Seeberan dismissed Murgatroyd and Keulder. The Namibian middle order all contributed useful runs but no-one was able to build a significant innings. Davison chipped in with a second wicket, but Namibia stil seemed poised for a total of over 200 when Thuraisingam returned for a second spell. As Namibia strove to raise the tempo with the final overs approaching, Thuraisingam rapidly dismissed skipper DB Kotze, BL Kotze, and Snyman, finishing with the figures of 3/37 off his 10 overs, a courageous performance. Skipper Joe Harris bowled the final over, and picked up a second wicket as Namibia were all out for 170 with three balls remaining. Seeberan had the remarkable figures of 1/16 off his 10 overs, and Davison 2/29 from 10 overs.

Missing Degroot and Diwan, Canada's batting was not at full strength. The unusual combination of Davison and Maraj opened the batting. Davison took an agressive approach and hit three quick boundaries, taking the opening partnership to 32 before being bowled by Snyman. Chumney and Maraj added useful runs, until Louw dismissed both. Louw bowled superbly, and the Canadian bats found it almost impossible to score from him. He took a third wicket when Billcliff was caught by Walters for only 7. At 95/4 Canada were in danger of collapse, so Bagai chose a mostly defensive role. When Harris fell to Burger, Canada were still 48 runs short; Sattaur made only three before being bowled by Burger, and Canada were 132/6, with few overs remaining. Thuraisingam contributed a vital eight runs, Codrington was run out, and with only two wickets left, Canada still needed twenty to win. Bagai and Joseph were the heroes of an amazing last over win against UAE in Toronto, and the experience stood them in good stead, as they saw Canada home off the last possible ball. Bagai was unbeaten on 34, a patient innings, facing 102 balls in total, and Joseph made 9. Louw finished with the superb figures of 10 overs, 5 maidens, 3 wickets, for 8 runs.

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