Ireland Beat Namibia by 55 Runs — Hoey's 3 for 29 Defends a Total That Had Slipped Away at the Death

There are first matches of a long series that tell you everything, and first matches that simply tell you who blinked. This one, in Windhoek, was a bit of both. Ireland, sent in by Namibia, had the game in hand at 155 for 3 at the second drinks break and then let a good deal of it go, losing six wickets for 54 in the final ten overs. What they did not do was let it go entirely, and when it was their turn with the ball, their slow bowlers made 229 look like plenty.

Ireland 229 for 9 (50 overs). Namibia 174 all out (37.5 overs). Ireland won by 55 runs and lead the five-match ODI series 1-0. Gavin Hoey, who made a third-ball duck with the bat, took 3 for 29 from nine overs and was named Player of the Match.

The captain set the tone. Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie took Ireland to 56 without loss in the first powerplay and 70 in 75 balls before Balbirnie, on 20, picked out Jack Brassell off Bernard Scholtz. Stirling reached his fifty from 58 balls, eight fours and a six in it, and was 50 at the first drinks break with Ireland 85 for 1 after 18 overs. He fell for 56 soon after, caught by Michael van Lingen off Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, at 95 for 2.

Cade Carmichael then did the patient work. His 45 took 80 balls, and with Harry Tector (28 from 42) he added 54 for the third wicket. At 155 for 3 after 35 overs, with Carmichael on 39 and Lorcan Tucker just in, Ireland looked set for a good deal more than they got. Carmichael was lbw to JJ Smit at 176 for 4, Tucker went for 28 at 200 for 5, and from there Loftie-Eaton and Smit took the tail apart: George Dockrell stumped for a seven-ball duck, Curtis Campher bowled by Ruben Trumpelmann for 17, Hoey bowled for 0. The last ten overs brought 54 runs and six wickets.

The defence was far more assured. Namibia's openers reached 48 in 51 balls, but Jai Moondra had van Lingen caught behind by Tucker, and Hoey then removed Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck. From 48 without loss Namibia were 74 for 4 in the 14th over, Campher bowling Zane Green in between. Hoey, Dockrell and Andy McBrine bowled 19 overs between them for 76 runs and five wickets, and although Liam McCarthy's 5.5 overs cost 43, it was he who eventually bowled Trumpelmann to end it.

Namibia will look back on this one with a little frustration, because the work in the field was largely good. Loftie-Eaton's 4 for 36 from nine overs accounted for Stirling, Tector, Tucker and Dockrell, the four Irish batters who had settled or might have settled. Scholtz conceded 37 from his ten, Trumpelmann 41 from ten, and the late recovery restricted Ireland to a target that, on this surface, was gettable.

The chase came apart in the middle overs. After the 48-run opening stand, four wickets fell for 26. Gerhard Erasmus made 22 from 31 before Dockrell trapped him lbw at 105 for 6, Loftie-Eaton was run out by Tector and Tucker, and JJ Smit was caught by Campher off Dockrell for 9, leaving Namibia 110 for 7 in the 25th over. Trumpelmann then played the innings of the evening for his side, 50 from 43 balls with three sixes, adding 37 for the eighth wicket with Waldo Smith and 18 for the last with Brassell. He was 40 at the final drinks break with Namibia 160 for 9. It was spirited, and it was too late.

We have no match report for this game, so we go by the scorecard alone. It suggests a surface on which runs were available early, with both sides scoring at more than five an over in the first powerplay, and on which the ball did more as it got older. Ireland's slow bowlers conceded four runs an over across their 19 overs; the scoring rate fell for both sides once the shine had gone. Namibia's choice to field first was not unreasonable on that evidence, but they needed their own top order to bat through the middle overs, and they did not.

Hoey's afternoon with the bat lasted three balls. His evening with the ball turned the match. With Namibia 48 for 1, he had Steenkamp caught by Dockrell in the 11th over and Frylinck caught behind by Tucker in the 13th, the two wickets at the heart of the slide from 48 without loss to 74 for 4. He came back to remove Waldo Smith, caught by McBrine, ending the eighth-wicket stand that had briefly given Namibia hope. Nine overs, 29 runs, three wickets: the most economical full spell in the match by any bowler who bowled more than five overs, and the one that did the most damage when it mattered.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview, so there are no predictions to grade. We will be covering the rest of the series, and with four more matches to come in Windhoek there will be plenty to say about both sides' plans.

Ireland lead the five-match series 1-0. The second ODI is on Saturday, October 24, also in Windhoek, with the series running until November 1. Ireland, captained here by Stirling with Tucker as his vice-captain, will want a cleaner finish to their innings: losing six for 54 at the death will not always be survivable. Namibia have a bowling attack that can pull a game back. What they need is someone in the top six to do what Carmichael did for Ireland, and bat long enough that Trumpelmann is finishing a chase rather than rescuing one.