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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Cricket Emerging side is finding the going tough on their tour of Namibia.

The side lost the two unofficial T20I matches they played against the World Cup-bound Eagles of Namibia at the weekend.

The third and final T20 match will be played today, before the two teams clash in three 50-over matches beginning on Wednesday.

The side, which is under the tutelage of Prosper Utseya, were defeated by seven wickets in their first match on Saturday.

The rust was showing on the Zimbabweans, who have struggled with both bat and ball, after months of inactivity due to the Covid-19 lockdown rules on domestic sport.

They went into the hastily arranged trip after receiving authorization from Government last week. The team elected to bat first on Saturday but they could only put 112 runs on the board, for the loss of eight wickets in their 20 overs.

Skipper Chamu Chibhabha was the highest scorer with 35 runs, while Kevin Kasuza weighed in with 20. The Zimbabwe Emerging side, which is a strong mixture of youth and experience, had at least six players capped at national team level in the starting line-up.

But the Namibians, who have invested months of preparations for their first ever ICC T20 World Cup appearance, have been in top class.

They raced to 113/3 in 13.3 overs in the first match, thanks to Zame Green’s unbeaten 81 from 47 balls. The Zimbabwean bowlers have been unable to contain the explosive Namibian top order which was also dominant in the second game.

The Namibians hit 254/4 at an amazing rate of 12.70 when they were sent in to bat first. A great batting display, led by JJ Smit, saw the Namibian Eagles romping to a 132-run victory against Emerging Zimbabwe on Sunday.

Smit scored a brilliant 93 not out, off only 29 balls, as Namibia posted a challenging total before bundling Emerging Zimbabwe out for 122 runs.

After being sent in to bat, Namibia got off to a fine start as openers Zane Green (44) and Craig Williams (77) laid the perfect platform with a first wicket partnership of 91 runs from 7.3 overs.

They attacked Zimbabwe’s bowling from the start, and successive fours by Green off Faraz Akram brought up the 50 after only four overs.

Man of the Match Smit was in brilliant form. He reached his 50 off only 16 balls, with successive sixes off Ainsley Ndlovu, and by the time Williams was out for 77, Smit had raced to 57, while they shared a fourth-wicket partnership of 81 off only five and a half overs.

Chamu Chibhabha (15) and Kevin Kasuza (12) opened the daunting chase but Zimbabwe’s development side kept on losing wickets, and eventually came short.

Brian Chari was the highest scorer with 33 runs from 10 balls. Chari hit five sixes before he fell to Mauritius Ngupita.

Nicol Loftie-Eaton was the peak of the Namibians’ bowlers with figures of three wickets for five runs, off four overs, while Ngupita took two wickets for 19 runs.

The hosts are using the series as part of their preparations for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by United Arab Emirates and Oman in October – November.

ZC, who failed to qualify following an ICC ban, have included some experienced players in their squad in order for the matches to be more exciting and competitive. But so far the games have been lop-sided.