A clinical bowling performance from New Zealand against Namibia helped them attain the second spot in the Group 2 points table after they defended a target of 164 runs on Friday in Sharjah.
Namibia were off to a decent start after openers Stephan Baard Michael van Lingen had put 47 runs on the board in less than eight overs but Jimmy Neesham provided the Blackcaps with a much-needed breakthrough as he cleaned up van Lingen for 25 off 25 deliveries.
Lingen’s departure saw Namibia losing wickets at regular intervals and they were left tottering at 102/5 in the 18th over only to end up getting restricted to 111/7 eventually.
For the Kiwis, it was their bowlers who took the onus on themselves and didn’t let the Namibian batsmen cut loose. While Boult returned with figures of 2/20 in 4 overs, Southee also scalped a couple of wickets as well for 15 runs in his allotted 4 overs.
Apart from these two, Mitchell Santner, James Neesham and Ish Sodi picked up one wicket each. The spinners prevented the batters from taking any advantage in the middle overs and the required rate kept rising for Namibia.
Earlier, in the day, New Zealand rode on a brisk partnership between Glenn Phillips and Neesham to put 163/4 in 20 overs on the board. The Kane Williamson-led side were reduced to 87/4 in 14 overs before Phillips and Neesham joined hands and provided them with resistance.
The two batsmen put up an unbeaten stand of 76 runs for the fifth wicket. While Phillips scored 39* off 21, Neesham remained not out on a 23-ball 35 to help New Zealand post a good total.
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson said that the track in Sharjah was a challenging one.
“I think we all know what we have to expect here (Sharjah), it's a real scrap. We tried to maximise that short side, it was a challenging surface. The guys played well to get us to 160. You need to build those partnerships and try to maximise towards the end. An over or two can crack the game, that was our focus today,” he said in the post-match presentation.
New Zealand will now play Afghanistan on Sunday in Abu Dhabi while Namibia will lock horns with India on Monday in Dubai.