ICC Six Nations Challenge away to dramatic start

If the size of the crowd at Wanderers Stadium in Windhoek on the opening day of the ICC Six Nations Challenge tournament is any indication of things to come, then cricket is here to stay as the major sport in Namibia.

Over 3000 people crammed into this small ground to watch Namibia take on Sri Lanka A. Local officials were startled at the turn out which has been judged to be the biggest crowd ever to attend a sporting event in this small African nation.

And the crowd was not disappointed by the action they saw. Batting first Namibia scored a creditable 182 all out in 49.2 overs. The experienced top three of Walters, Burger and Keulder all got solid starts but their inability to turn these into big scores cost the home side dearly as the lower order collapsed against some good Sri Lanka bowling.

The strong Sri Lanka batting made short work of the target scoring the runs in just 34 overs. Gunawardena starred with a stylish 83 off just 66 balls.

In other games, Canada took on a strong Holland team. Having won the toss, the Canadians promptly put the Dutch into bat first on a greenish wicket offering plenty of assistance to the seamers. The opening Canadian bowlers exploited the wicket well and had the top three Dutch batsmen out early before Statham steadied the innings with a well compiled 37 before being run out. However, with the scoring rate falling as wickets fell regularly, enter Schiferli to cause carnage. Tearing apart the Canadian attack with uninhibited power, he scored an unbeaten 89 of 63 balls with eight huge sixes and four boundaries. The late surge helped the Dutch eventually close on a respectable 211 thanks largely to Schiferli's belligerent batting.

The Canadians got off to a promising start with Degroot looking solid and scoring a well compiled 54. Harris provided able assistance with a steady 63 and looked to be taking the game away from Holland until he lost his wicket. Thereafter, none of the other batsmen could capitalise with the Canadians eventually falling short by 14 runs as the innings fell away. Schiferrli completed a fine all-round match winning performance by taking 4/35.

Another big crowd came to see the all Africa match between Kenya and Zimbabwe A. On winning the toss, Kenya opted to bat first on a good batting track. Steve Tikolo was in supreme form and mixed aggression with defence skilfully in compiling 75 of 89 balls. He found able partners in Odumbe (36), Odoyo (43) and Modi who remained unbeaten on 43 and pushing the total to a competitive 262/7.

Zimbabwe A started disastrously losing both openers early. However, Rennie used his considerable international experience to steady the innings and make 40 off 57 balls. Once Rennie was out, Whittall and Marillier, the other two prominent internationals with test caps, started to build a valuable partnership and looked like taking the game away from the Kenyans. However, Whittal (77) and Marrillier (81) lost their wickets in quick succession. The rest of the batsmen could not keep up with the run rate, and the Kenyans held their nerve to take a famous victory. Odumbe was the pick of the bowlers taking 4-45.