Milind Kumar became just the fifth USA bowler to take five wickets in a T20 match, making sure USA ended the tour of Namibia on a winning note as they took down the hosts by six wickets in Windhoek. 

File photo credit: Peter Della Penna

By Peter Della Penna (Twitter/X @PeterDellaPenna)
 
Allrounder Milind Kumar turned into a one-man wrecking crew against Namibia on Saturday, wiping out half of the host side batting order by the eighth over of the first innings before finishing off the game with the bat in a successful USA chase to claim Player of the Match honors in USA’s six-wicket win at United Cricket Club. Milind struck three times in his second over before taking two more in an unbroken new ball spell of 5 for 16 in four overs of offspin before scoring 18 not out off 15 balls to help USA haul down a modest total of 120 for 9 with 29 balls to spare. 
 
There was little indication of the carnage to come after Namibia won the toss and chose to bat first, racing to 34 for 0 in three overs behind JP Kotze and Jan Frylinck. The latter left-hander had just plundered 19 runs off Juanoy Drysdale’s pace bowling in the third over before Milind, who had conceded seven runs off his first over in the second, struck back in devastating fashion. Frylinck was the first to go in the fourth over for 21, bowled playing back to a good length ball. Namibia T20I debutant Alexander Busing-Volschenk lasted just one ball when Milind trapped him on the crease with an arm ball to win an lbw appeal. Captain Gerhard Erasmus saw off the hat-trick ball and then scored two off his next delivery before falling third ball to end the over when he failed to clear Nitish Kumar on the ring at mid-on with a lofted drive as Namibia’s progress ground to a rapid halt at 36 for 3. 
 
After entering at the non-striker’s end to start the fifth over, JJ Smit finally took strike to start the sixth but was quickly back in the pavilion after prodding down the wrong line of an offbreak to be bowled through the gate for a golden duck by Milind. Kotze then succumbed in the eighth over for 29 after missing an attempted reverse sweep that struck him in line with middle and off stump for a straightforward lbw decision to make it 56 for 6. Milind should have ended with figures of 5 for 12 – which would have been USA’s joint best figures in T20Is along with Saurabh Netravalkar’s spell against Singapore at the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe – after a dot ball on the sixth legal ball of the over to new batter Shaun Fouche, but the umpires miscounted the over and allowed a seventh ball to be bowled which Fouche wound up hitting for a boundary to give Milind his final figures. Aside from Milind and Netravalkar, three other players had previously taken five wickets for USA in a T20 match: Bhim George vs. Argentina in 2011, Danial Ahmed vs. Denmark in 2013 and Usman Ashraf vs. Belize in 2018. 
 
USA’s spinners continued to dominate even after Milind’s spell ended as Harmeet Singh struck in the 11^th, getting Zane Green for 6 on a failed slog to long-on that picked out Nitish once more. Seeing the success that Milind had, stand-in captain Jessy Singh gave the ball to Nitish for just his second bowling appearance in a USA uniform, and first since the Bangladesh home series in May, which paid off when Jan Balt miscued an attempted cut shot and skied a catch to Sai Mukkamalla running in from point sweeper to dismiss Balt for 10 and make it 93 for 7 in the 17^th. 
 
Jessy took the lone wicket by any pace bowler in the match during the 18^th when a yorker cleaned up middle stump to bowl Bernard Scholtz for 3. Jack Brassell then became the third Namibia player to go for a golden duck in the match in the 19^th when Harmeet won a straightforward lbw decision after Brassell was late playing across the line on the back foot and was struck deep in the crease in front of middle stump to make it 105 for 9. Fouche managed to strike two boundaries during an 11-run final over off Jessy to take Namibia to their final total of 120 for 9, out of which Fouche made an unbeaten 40 off 43 balls after entering at No. 7 in the eighth over. 
 
Aside from Milind’s figures, Harmeet ended with 2 for 21 in four overs. Nitish claimed 1 for 13 in three overs while Jessy returned 1 for 31 in four. Nosthush Kenjige was economical in his 0 for 16 off four while Drysdale never returned after his lone over in the third conceded 19 runs. 
 
USA’s opening pair of Mukkamalla and Andries Gous capitalized on Namibia’s pace bowlers in the Powerplay, taking 61 off the first six overs. After Brassell overstepped on the very first ball of the USA reply, Mukkamalla hooked the free hit for six to kickstart a 12-run over. Gous then creamed a six over extra cover and two fours through the off side against Tangeni Lungameni during a 17-run fifth before striking Brassell for a four and six in the following over. 
 
The opening stand finally ended when Mukkamalla got a wide half-tracker from Scholtz which held up in the pitch and resulted in the 20-year-old dragging a cut shot onto his stumps for 22. Harmeet was sent in at No. 3 for USA and got off the mark in style on his second ball by pulling a six over the leg side. Gous fell in the following over for 37 off 19 after Erasmus belatedly introduced himself into the attack and induced a pull to long-on where Smit took a basic catch to make it 69 for 2. 
 
Erasmus then struck in each of his next two overs, first getting Harmeet for 16 slapping a length ball to Busing-Volschenk at extra cover before Nitish miscued a pull to the same fielder in the ring for 12 to make it 99 for 4 in the 12^th. Milind and Shayan Jahangir then came together and calmly knocked off the rest of the required ones with ones and twos until scores were level before Jahangir ended the match with a boundary off Balt on the first ball of the 16^th. 
 
Erasmus bowled four straight starting in the eighth over to finish with 3 for 23. Scholtz was solid as well taking 1 for 24 with his left-arm spin. Brassell and Lungameni’s right and left arm medium pace proved expensive with the new ball as the new-ball pair conceded 0 for 25 and 0 for 28 in their two overs each in the Powerplay and were not brought back again. Balt conceded 0 for 19 in 2.1 overs of offspin while Fouche’s lone over of medium pace in the 15^th ended up giving away just five runs. 
 
USA now returns home where they will begin a slate of seven matches across October and November in Grand Prairie, Texas that begins with three T20Is against Nepal starting on October 17 before an ODI tri-series involving Nepal and Scotland gets underway at the same venue on October 25.