Namibia Beat USA by 6 Wickets — Steenkamp's Hundred and Erasmus's 95 Chase Down 278 in Dallas

Six days earlier on this ground, Michael van Lingen's hundred had been answered by Monank Patel's, and USA had taken the points. This time the hundred belonged to Louren Steenkamp, the 95 to Gerhard Erasmus, and the answer never came. Namibia chased 278 with nine balls to spare, and they did it the old-fashioned way: two batters, one long partnership, no panic.

USA will look back on the first half of their innings. At 103 for 5 after 27 overs, with Monank Patel, Smit Patel and Sanjay Krishnamurthi all gone cheaply, 220 looked a long way off. That they reached 277 was down to Shehan Jayasuriya's 76, Shayan Jahangir's unbeaten 73, and Harmeet Singh's 54 from 34 balls at the end. Namibia won by 6 wickets, with 9 balls remaining.

The chase lost van Lingen early, caught by Milind Kumar off Ehsan Adil in the third over, and Jan Frylinck was bowled by Hassan Khan for 29 with the score 72 in the 15th. From there it belonged to Steenkamp and Erasmus. They added 149 for the third wicket in 160 balls, and the striking thing was how little either of them seemed to hurry. Steenkamp's hundred came from 114 balls with seven fours and three sixes; Erasmus's 95 from 102 had four fours and a single six. The required rate sat around five and a half all afternoon and they simply kept it there.

Steenkamp was bowled by Jasdeep Singh in the 41st over, almost immediately after reaching three figures, at 221 for 3. Erasmus took Namibia to within eight runs before Harmeet Singh had him caught by Hassan Khan for 95, five short of what would have been a deserved hundred. Zane Green's unbeaten 28 from 23 balls kept the rate under control through the last ten overs, and JJ Smit arrived with eight needed and hit his first two balls for four. It was a chase without a single wobble, which is rare at 278.

Namibia's decision to bowl paid off at once. Smit Patel, so reliable six days earlier, took 14 balls over a single run before JJ Smit had him caught in the fourth over. Monank Patel made 30 but was caught behind off Jack Brassell in the 16th, and Brassell bowled Sanjay Krishnamurthi three overs later. When Max Heingo removed Milind Kumar and Shubham Ranjane in quick succession, USA were 103 for 5 after 27 overs and the innings was drifting.

Jayasuriya was the constant through all of it. He batted 99 balls for 76, with nine fours and two sixes, and added 71 for the sixth wicket with Jahangir before Bernard Scholtz had him caught by Heingo in the 38th over. Scholtz struck again two overs later to trap Hassan Khan lbw, and at 184 for 7 with ten overs left a total of 230 looked likely. Jahangir and Harmeet Singh had other ideas. Their unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 93 came off 61 balls, Harmeet hitting four sixes on his way to fifty from 34 balls and Jahangir four in his 73. That is why USA had 277 to bowl at rather than 220. But their attack, with no bowler going at under five an over, could not find a third wicket until the 41st over, and by then the game was gone.

Grand Prairie was, once again, a good batting surface that asked for patience early and rewarded it late. The new ball did enough for Smit and Brassell to make the first fifteen overs hard work for USA, and Heingo and Scholtz profited in the middle; but once set, batters on both sides scored freely. The pattern of last week repeated: the side that kept wickets in hand through the middle overs won. USA lost five in the first 27; Namibia lost two in the first 41.

Steenkamp opened the innings, watched van Lingen go in the third over with 14 on the board, and was still there in the 41st with the match in Namibia's hands. His 102 from 114 balls was neither hurried nor slow. He went to fifty quietly, picked the three sixes carefully, and kept Erasmus in the game at the other end. It was the kind of innings that doesn't make the highlight reel but wins a lot of one-day matches.

This match didn't have a CricIntel preview — we previewed the first USA v Namibia game of the Dallas leg on October 7, which USA won by 4 wickets, but not this return fixture. In that preview we named Gerhard Erasmus as Namibia's player to watch; he has now made 76 and 95 in the two meetings. We'll have full analysis for the next League 2 fixtures.

USA remain top of the League 2 table on 49 points from 36 matches, with Scotland on 45 from 36 and Netherlands on 38 from 32. Namibia move to 33 points from 36 matches, level with fourth-placed Oman, who have played only 30. The Dallas leg is over, with USA and Namibia taking one win each from their two meetings.

League 2 moves to Oman: hosts Oman play Canada at Al Amerat on October 15, Canada meet Nepal on October 17, and Oman face Nepal again on October 19.