Namibia beat Oman by 5 wickets in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on March 14, 2022. Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Oman posted a formidable first innings total of 265/5 at the end of their 50 overs.

Openers Kashyap Prajapati and Jatinder Singh looked in good nick and erected a 57-run stand to start proceedings for
the side in red. Kashyap was dismissed for 25 but Jatinder carried on, playing himself back into form after a string of scores below 30. He finished on a brilliant 86-ball 74. But once again, Oman’s top scorer was Shoaib Khan. He followed
up his century against the same opponents in the previous game with an outstanding 86, anchoring the 3 fifty-plus partnerships during the middle and death overs that put Oman in a commanding position at half-time.
Captain Zeeshan Maqsood chipped in with a well-made 29 and Khawar Ali remained unbeaten on 33. Jan Frylinck was Namibia’s star with the ball, ending the day with figures of 3/36 in his 10 overs. Ruben Trumpelmann picked up
the other 2 wickets. In response, Namibia were powered by double figure contributions from every single batsman and chased the target down with 15 balls to spare. Oman’s pace attack looked dominant in the powerplay, with Kaleemullah sending both Stephen Baard and Lo-handre Louwrens back for identical scores of 14. Soon after, Fayyaz Butt caught Craig Williams leg before to leave Namibia reeling at 58/3 after 13 overs.

But Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton and the ever-reliable Gerhard Erasmus stitched together a 109-run partnership to take their side out of the woods. Loftie-Eaton made a 71-ball 63, while the skipper finished 2 runs short of a half-century.
Bilal Khan came back into the attack for Oman and dismissed both the batters in successive overs. But unfortunately for his side, they were unable to pick up any further wickets and a 91-run stand between JJ Smit and David Wiese took Namibia over the line. The two finished with individual scores of 39 and 48 respectively.
Despite this loss, with 3 wins out of 5 in the UAE, Oman extended their lead at the top of the League 2 table to 20 points, having played 16 games more than second-placed Scotland. They beat the hosts UAE on both occasions and remain a smart bet to qualify for the ICC Men’s ODI World Cup in 2023.

BRIEF SCORES:
Oman 265/5 in 50 overs (Shoaib Khan 86(103) 6 x 4, 2 x 6 Jatinder Singh 74(86) 12 x 4, 1 x 6 ; Jan Frylinck 36/3) lost to
Namibia 266/5 in 47.3 overs (Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton 63(71) 5 x 4, Gerhard Erasmus 48(64) 2 x 4, 1 x 6 David Wiese 48(41) 2 x 4, 2 x 6 ; Bilal Khan 30/2 , Kaleemullah 51/2) by 5 wickets