ICC T20 WC NZ vs NAM highlights: New Zealand crush Namibia by 52 uns

New Zealand beat Namibia by 52 runs in Super 12 match of T20 World Cup at Sharjah Cricket Ground on Thursday. 

Earlier, Glenn Phillips and Jimmy Neesham took the Namibian attack to the cleaners and propelled New Zealand to 163 for four.

Check ICC T20 WC points table here

New Zealand were struggling at 87/4, but brutal hitting by Phillips (39 not out off 21 balls) and Neesham (35 not out off 23 balls) ensured that the Kiwis were back in the game.

The duo added 76 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket in just 36 balls. While Phillips hammered one four and three sixes, Neesham struck one boundary and two maximums.

Courtesy Phillips and Neesham, Kiwis, amassed 53 runs in the last three overs.

Asked to bat, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill (18) fell in the fifth over, after offering a simple catch to Ruben Trumpelmann at mid-off, off David Wiese (1/40).

Guptill launched into left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz (1/15), hitting him for a maximum over long-on.

In the fourth over, Daryl Mitchell (19) got his first boundary, straight down the ground off Johannes Smit, as the Kiwis raced to 30/0 after four overs.

But Namibia pegged the Kiwis back by sending both the openers to the dressing room. First Wiese broke the 30-run opening stand by dismissing Guptill and then Scholtz dismissed Mitchell, who was caught in the deep by Michael van Lingen in the seventh over, as the Kiwis slipped to 43/2.

Skipper Kane Williamson (28) and Devon Conway (17), then tried to rally the innings with their 38-run stand.

Williamson opened his arms in the 11th over, hammering a maximum and a four on successive balls off leg-spinner Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton.

But Williamson was cleaned up by rival captain and leg-spinner Gerhard Erasmus (1/22), in the 13th over, with New Zealand reaching 81/3. It soon became 87/4, as Conway was also run-out.

After a slow start, it was the Phillips and Neesham show as they upped the ante from the 18th over, when they launched into Wiese, grabbing 21 runs off it.

New Zealand vs Namibia playing 11
 
New Zealand playing 11: Martin Guptill, Daryl Mitchell, Kane Williamson(c), James Neesham, Devon Conway(w), Glenn Phillips, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult.
 
Namibia playing 11: Stephan Baard, Craig Williams, Gerhard Erasmus(c), David Wiese, JJ Smit, Zane Green(w), Michael van Lingen, Karl Birkenstock, Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ruben Trumpelmann, Bernard Scholtz

Check ICC T20 WC 2021 latest news here
 
New Zealand semifinal qualification scenarios
 
New Zealand will qualify regardless of other outcomes if they win the remaining games. They only need to over Afghanistan challenger for semifinal qualification. If Kiwis lose the game against Afghanistan, they may still miss out on semis qualification, depending on other results.