In an exciting T20 World Cup match here, Namibia's Ruben Trumpelmann became the first player to take wickets in the opening two deliveries of a T20 international as his country defeated Oman via the Super Over. In the one-over eliminator, David Wiese and captain Gerhard Erasmus struck 21 runs for Namibia, while Oman managed 10 from the six deliveries that Wiese skilfully bowled. Oman was asked to bat first at the Kensington Oval, but they were earlier dismissed for 109 in 19.4 overs. In response, Jan Frylinck made 45 off of 48 balls and Mehran Khan took 3/7 to stop Namibia at the same team score and force a Super Over.
This came after Trumpelmann, a left-arm fast bowler from South Africa who was born in Namibia, made history.
The 26-year-old accomplished the feat on the opening two balls of the encounter as he dismissed Oman captain Aqib Ilyas and opener Kashyap Prajapati for golden ducks.
Oman's best scorer, Khalid Kail, scored 34 in 39 balls.
In his second over Trumpelmann claimed another wicket and returned with career-best figures of 4-21.
On the opening ball of the match, he trapped Kashyap Prajapati's leg before wicket with an in-swinging yorker, and he removed Ilyas with a ball that crashed onto the batter's toes.
Trumpelmann also recorded the team's greatest results in T20 World Cup history at that time. He broke his record of 3/17, which he had set against Scotland in the UAE at the T20 World Cup in 2021.
Following his successive dismissals of Prajapati and Ilyas, Trumpelmann removed starter Naseem Khushi from the game before coming back to claim Kalemullah's wicket after the innings for his fourth wicket.
Wiese also contributed to the wicket total, scoring 3/28 in 3.4 overs as Oman struggled to contain the Namibian bowlers.
Oman's bowlers, however, displayed great discipline and a strong will to battle despite a modest total, eventually tying the game.
However, Namibia was the last to laugh that day.
Many people believed that Namibian captain Erasmus would give the ball to Trumpelmann to bowl the Super Over, but he made the wise decision to select the 39-year-old Wiese because of his wealth of experience.
"Aged a couple of years tonight. Don't have a lot of years left in me (laughs). It was an emotionally draining evening," Player of the Match Wiese, who was also born in South Africa, remarked following the nerve-wracking victory. "It helped that I had a feel of the game and knew if I get a few hits out in the Super Over... then with the ball, felt like taking the ball and executing," said the player, speaking about both bowling and batting in the Super Over.
"Pitch was difficult, didn't play the way we thought. But we adapted well. It was two-paced, it was a difficult wicket to get yourself in. One you needed to spend a bit of time before capitalising." Namibia were on course to chase down the target of 110 until Mehran Khan (3/7) brought Oman back into the contest with his two wickets in the final over.