USA got the benefit of a contentious decision in their favor to help maintain their unbeaten run on tour in Namibia when home captain Gerhard Erasmus was given out for 77 to Jessy Singh as USA rallied to close out a 13-run win.  

Photo credit: Africa One TV

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
With 25 runs off 18 balls needed to win, Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus appeared in cruise control on 77 off 47 balls. But USA captain Jessy Singh’s appeal for caught behind in the 18^th over was controversially upheld in what turned out to be the decisive moment of the chase as Jessy and Abhishek Paradkar snuffed out the Namibia tail over the remainder of play to wrap up a 13-run win for USA to successfully defend a total of 181 in their second T20I of the Namibia tri-series to preserve their unbeaten run on tour. 
 
The delivery in question occurred on the second ball of the 18^th when Erasmus premeditated a walk across his stumps prior to Jessy’s delivery and shaped to paddle scoop the delivery through fine leg. The USA stand-in skipper countered by bowling a length ball well outside the off stump wide guidelines, causing Erasmus to adapt his shot by trying to glide the delivery through third man. The ball took a significant deflection as it passed Erasmus, after which he tugged at his pads to indicate it came off his body rather than the bat. However, Jessy and Andries Gous behind the stumps both appealed for a catch with the umpire siding in favor of USA. Erasmus protested the decision initially before walking off to make it 157 for 7. 
 
With the Namibia captain gone and only the tail left to bat, Jessy conceded just three runs across the rest of the 18^th before Paradkar gave away just three singles in the 19^th, which also included the wicket of Bernard Scholtz slogging to Nosthush Kenjige at deep midwicket for 1. With 19 runs to win off the final over, Jessy began with two dots to Dylan Leicher before a single was taken off the third ball. With three sixes required to win, No. 10 batter Jack Brassell stabbed out a yorker for a boundary off the fourth ball, meaning USA mathematically had secured victory with two balls left and both wound up being dots to end play. 
 
Namibia’s chase of USA’s 181 for 4 began in shaky fashion with Jessy and Milind Kumar striking in each of the first two overs to leave the hosts at 2 for 2. JP Kotze fell to Jessy for 1, dragging on a wide half volley onto his stumps. Milind, who was USA’s only change to their starting XI coming into the lineup in place of Ayan Desai from USA’s win over UAE a day earlier, snared Jan Frylinck for 1 in the second over courtesy of a brilliant diving catch by Shayan Jahangir going to his left at extra cover to intercept a sharp drive. 
 
Erasmus arrived to the middle and saw off the rest of Milind’s first over for a wicket maiden before both Erasmus and Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton turned the tables on USA, torching a combination of Jessy, Milind, Juanoy Drysdale and Paradkar for 54 runs across the next four overs. USA also had a setback with the loss of Smit Patel early in the third over in the field after the wicketkeeper suffered an undisclosed injury while diving to stop a leg side wide sent down by Jessy. Gous then took over the gloves for the remainder of the innings. 
 
The 63-run stand between Loftie-Eaton and Erasmus came to an end in the eighth over when Kenjige was introduced into the attack for the first time on the afternoon and struck with his first ball. Loftie-Eaton decided to charge Kenjige immediately and paid the price, failing to get to the pitch of a length delivery but went through with his attempted drive anyway and wound up slicing a catch to Drysdale at short third man for 34. 
 
JJ Smit picked up where Loftie-Eaton left off though, belting both Harmeet and Kenjige for sixes in the ninth and tenth overs. After Kenjige had conceded just three runs in the eighth, Namibia once again regained momentum by plundering 30 across the next two overs to reach 98 for 3 at the halfway point of the chase. The damage could have been limited had Smit been caught on 15 in the 10^th on a chance created by Kenjige, but a skied top-edged slog sweep was shelled by Drysdale at square leg halfway between the 30-yard circle and the boundary. Smit eventually fell for 25 in the 11^th over as Drysdale made up for the drop in the field by getting Smit to slog a catch flat to Harmeet at long-on to make it 103 for 4. 
 
Erasmus continued chugging away at the opposite end, bringing up a 31-ball half-century in the 13^th over with a pull over midwicket off of Drysdale. Another boundary off Paradkar in a nine-run 14^th over took the score to 134 for 4 as Namibia needed a very manageable 48 off 36 balls with six overs left.
 
But momentum see-sawed back and forth over the next several overs. Kenjige was brought back for his final two overs beginning in the 15^th and struck twice to peg back Namibia. Malan Kruger fell for 6 when he walked too far across his stumps trying to scoop Kenjige and wound up being bowled behind his legs. Four balls later, Jan Izak de Villiers played back to a length ball and was given lbw to make it 137 for 6. But the pendulum swung back toward Namibia in Kenjige’s next over as both Erasmus and Leicher smashed him for six during a 14-run frame that took the total to 157 for 6 after 17. It set the stage for Jessy to return to the attack and take the wicket of Erasmus in dramatic circumstances before USA closed out victory. 
 
Jessy’s wickets of Erasmus and Kotze meant he eventually finished with figures of 2 for 21. Kenjige’s figures were spoiled by a costly final over but he still came away with 3 for 34 across four overs. Milind returned 1 for 20 from two, Drysdale 1 for 25 from three and Paradkar 1 for 28 from three in a solid bounce back effort after conceding four boundaries to Erasmus in his first over of the day. Harmeet ended as USA’s lone wicketless bowler on the day, ending with 0 for 39 in four.
 
USA’s first innings total was underpinned by a Player of the Match performance from Gous, who batted until the 18^th over to make 81 off 50 balls. USA got off to another solid start behind Gous and Sai Mukkamalla as the pair added 41 for the first wicket before Mukkamalla skied a front foot pull against Bernard Scholtz’ spin in the fifth over and wound up finding Smit’s hands at mid-on for 17. 
 
Gous then produced back-to-back half-century partnerships to keep USA motoring along, first with Smit and then with Nitish Kumar. Smit made 24 as part of a 51-run stand with Gous before being bowled trying to flick a fuller delivery from Brassell in the 12^th over. Nitish then joined Gous and the pair added 58 together for the third wicket. Gous brought up his half-century off 34 balls in the 13^th over before he began to tee off on Namibia’s bowlers, hitting a six in each of the next four overs. 
 
Gous fell in the 18^th, driving a full ball from Brassell to long-on where a simple catch was taken by Kruger to make it 150 for 3. But the moment was fleeting for Namibia as a single by the newly arrived Milind put Nitish back on strike, who subsequently hit a Brassell no-ball for six before taking the free hit and sending it back over the bowler’s head for six more to end a 21-run over. Nitish fell two balls into the 19^th for 36, driving Erasmus to long-off. But Jahangir and Milind took 13 off the final over sent down by Tangeni Lungameni, which proved to be the winning margin. Milind finished unbeaten on 13 off 8 balls in a very efficient cameo. 
 
Brassell returned in his 2 for 42 across four overs with most of the damage coming in his final over after he had taken the wicket of Gous. The left-right spin tandem of Scholtz and Erasmus finished with 1 for 24 and 1 for 32 respectively across each of their four overs. Lungameni was Namibia’s most expensive bowler conceding 0 for 44 off four. Loftie-Eaton and Leicher combined for four overs with and gave away 0 for 17 and 0 for 20 respectively. 
 
USA has two days off before returning to action on Friday in Windhoek when they take on the UAE.