Twitter reacts: South Africa lose to Namibia by 18 runs

It was around 10 months ago when Namibia beat South Africa during a T20I match, as they continued the same dominance with another victory to begin the Tri-Series 2026 at the Namibia Cricket Ground in Windhoek by 18 runs. Despite being the second-string Protea side, this team had some of the superstars in both the batting and bowling departments.

Namibia, in their familiar conditions, bowled at the right line and length on most occasions and continued to put pressure on the visiting batters, who were not able to break free and continued to lose wickets one after another to fall short of the target.

Second defeat in overall T20Is — How South Africa slipped up against Namibia

Namibia posted a decent score of 163 runs for the loss of nine wickets in their allotted 20 overs. The base of the score was laid down by the 84-run opening partnership between Louren Steenkamp and Jan Frylinck. The former smashed a fine knock of 41 runs off 29 balls, thanks to his three boundaries and two sixes at a strike rate of 141.38.

Meanwhile, Frylinck’s knock of 60 runs off 38 balls was decorated with six boundaries and a pair of over boundaries at a strike rate of 157.89. However, the rest of the batting line-up fell like a pack of cards. They lost their nine wickets for just 79 runs in the last 62 balls.

Prenelan Subrayen finished with figures of 3/32 in his four overs while the captain, Bjorn Fortuin, returned with 2/17 in four overs, including a maiden.

South Africa continued to lose wickets from the start as they were reduced to 39/3 in seven overs. Dewald Brevis tried hard for his incredible knock of 75 runs off 50 balls, striking four boundaries and five sixes. Duan Jansen tried hard for his 25* runs, but they fell short of the target by 18 runs.

Ruben Trumpelmann had figures of 3/24 in four overs while JJ Smit, the Player of the Match award winner, returned with 3/31. The Namibia captain, Gerhard Erasmus, reflected on the vital win.

“I think this is very important in the sense that it shows that we do belong, and it wasn't a once-off. That, or any of our other previous big wins, weren't once-offs.” Erasmus expressed after the end of the game.

Brief Scores: Namibia 163/9 (Jan Frylinck 60, Prenelan Subrayen 3/32) beat South Africa 145/9 (Dewald Brevis 75, Ruben Trumelmann 3/24) by 18 runs.