Namibia secured a historic four-wicket victory over neighbours South Africa in an one-off T20 International on Saturday. Wicketkeeper Zane Green was the hero for the hosts, sealing a last-ball win in the first-ever international meeting between the two nations, which was arranged to inaugurate the new Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek.
Chasing a target of 135, Namibia required 11 runs from the final over. Green, who finished with a match-winning 30 not out, dramatically reduced the pressure by hitting the first delivery from Andile Simelane for a six. After the scores were leveled, he struck the last ball of the match for a boundary to trigger jubilant celebrations among the crowd.
Earlier, the South African side struggled to a below-par total of 134 for eight after choosing to bat on a slow pitch. Quinton de Kock, in his first international match since June 2024, was dismissed for just one run in the opening over. Left-arm seamer Ruben Trumpelmann was the standout bowler for Namibia, finishing with figures of three for 28, while Jason Smith top-scored for the visitors with 31.
The occasion marked the opening of a venue that will be used for the 2027 Cricket World Cup. South Africa fielded a team missing several key players who are in Pakistan for a Test series. Their efforts were further hampered when fast bowler Gerald Coetzee left the field with a chest muscle injury after bowling only nine balls.
After leading his team on a victory lap, Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus celebrated the moment. “You can see what it means, for the team and the crowd,” he said. “The guys did it with good skill.” South Africa’s stand-in captain Donovan Ferreira conceded his team was outplayed. “We weren’t good enough,” he said, adding that the injury to Coetzee had hurt their defence of the modest total.
