Namibia win by two wickets to take 1-0 lead in 5-match one-day series n Sports Reporter VIDARBHA team started its maiden international tour on a disappointing note by going down to hosts Namibia in a last-ball thriller. In their first 50-overs one-day encounter, Vidarbha suffered a narrow two-wicket defeat at the hands of Namibia national side. Vidarbha were asked to bat first and posted 260 for 8 in 50 overs at Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek on Thursday. The home team then chased down the target with two wickets in hand scoring the winning run on the last ball of the innings. Vidarbha started well by taking early wickets and forcing Namibia on the backfoot at 44-4 in 18 overs on a fast and bouncy track.

 

But the bowlers lost the plot in the middle overs as Namibia’s Gerhard Erasmus (83) and Jan Nicol Loftie Eaton (63) added 121 runs for the fifth wicket to take their total near the target. Needing 16 from last over, Ruben Trumpelmann hammered the required runs from an otherwise excellent pacer Saurabh Dubey’s (4-48) over to see his side through. Aditya Thakare was the next best bowler for Vidarbha with three scalps from 11 overs conceding 44 runs. Earlier, Vidarbha rode on half centuries from Mandar Mahale (51) and Jagjot Sasan (50) and some hard-hitting from Nachiket Bhute (44*; 36b) lower down the order to post 260-8. Yash Rathod was the other notable batter who scored 46 runs. For Namibia, Jack Brassell was the most successful bowler with three wickets while Jonathan Smit took two. Vidarbha will play their next match on Saturday. The matches are being telecast live on OTT platform FANCODE.