Mitchell Santner celebrates the wicket of Stephan Baard of Namibia. Photo / Getty
Mitchell Santner celebrates the wicket of Stephan Baard of Namibia. Photo / Getty
A late batting blitz has put the Black Caps within a game of the Twenty20 World Cup semifinals.
Forced to bat first in Sharjah after losing the toss, the Black Caps looked in a spot of bother against lowly Namibia, having trudged their way through to 96-4 after 16 overs.
Four overs and a whopping 67 runs later, any hopes of a monumental upset had been dashed.
An unbeaten 76-run partnership off just 36 balls between Glenn Phillips (39 off 21 balls) and Jimmy Neesham (35 off 23) bashed the Black Caps out of trouble, finishing at 163-4, which proved too tricky for Namibia, who fell 52 runs short in the first meeting in any format between the two nations.
Michael van Lingen of Namibia was bowled by Jimmy Neesham. Photo / Photosport
Now, Afghanistan await in New Zealand's final pool match on Sunday night, with a victory sending the Black Caps through to a semifinal, likely against England.
Lose to Afghanistan, and their tournament will come to an end, with Afghanistan holding a superior net run rate. Victory will also require the Black Caps to produce something closer to their performance against India, with their last two wins featuring rough patches which stronger sides would have exploited.
Improvements need to come from their No 3 and 4 batters, with Kane Williamson and Devon Conway leaving too much of a burden on the middle order.
Williamson's innings against Namibia was similar to his effort against Pakistan, with a slow start (13 off 17 balls), being followed by some big shots (10 runs in two balls), before getting out (28 off 25) just as he looked set to cash in.
Conway meanwhile hasn't had a positive contribution all tournament, with his returns (27 off 24, 2* off 4, 1 off 3 and 17 off 18) all holding negative value.
Against Namibia, the pair dented what was another decent platform from openers Daryl Mitchell and Martin Guptill, who added 30 in four overs before Guptill fell.
While it's admittedly harder to get bowlers away in the middle overs, the Black Caps only added 19 runs from the sixth to 10th over, for the loss of Mitchell after the powerplay, and from 62-2 after 10 overs they could only inch their way to 96-4 after 16, with Williamson having dragged on and Conway run out by an ambitious Phillips trying to run two.
That turned out to be a blessing as it brought Neesham to the wicket, though he and Phillips both struggled early, with Namibian captain Gerhard Erasmus, bowling with a broken finger, conceding just eight runs from his first three overs of off-spin.
However, his last over went for 14, and that was a sign of the barrage to follow.
Glenn Phillips was part of a pivotal partnership with Jimmy Neesham. Photo / Photosport
After 31 balls had passed without a boundary from the 12th to 17th overs, Erasmus offered a full toss which Phillips bashed for six, while Neesham had scratched his way around for 11 off 13 before freeing his arms with back-to-back boundaries.
21 came from David Wiese's 18th over, and when Phillips smacked the first two balls of the 19th for a four and a six, 45 runs had come from 14 balls to dent the chances of a Namibian miracle.
A disastrous last over from JJ Smit featured four wides and leaked 18 runs, and after scraping 62 runs from their first 10 overs, the Black Caps had bludgeoned 67 off their last four to set Namibia 164 to win.
Steady wickets kept New Zealand in control, with their only scare coming when Ish Sodhi was hit in the head by a shot from Wiese that came screaming back towards the bowler. After a moment of concern and a concussion check, the clearly hard-headed Sodhi completed his over.
Excellent returns from Tim Southee (2-15), Trent Boult (2-20) and Mitchell Santner (1-20) ensured Namibia wouldn't come close, leaving one clear target in the Black Caps' sights.
