Toss Namibia opt to bowl vs Zimbabwe

After successfully defending a total in the T20I tri-series opener against South Africa, Namibia have chosen to chase in their first match-up against Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe are chasing their first points in the series after being outplayed by South Africa on Saturday and have made one change in the hope of turning their fortunes around. They have benched experienced legspinner Graeme Cremer, whose two overs cost 32 runs and brought in left-arm spinner Wellington Masakadza, with no switches in the batting line-up.

After Zimbabwe squandered a strong start – they were 76 for 1 against South Africa after ten overs – all eyes will be on Dion Myers, Sikandar Raza and Ryan Burl to set a competitive target.

Namibia have their tails up after beating South Africa on Friday and opted not to make any changes to their XI. At a venue with good bounce, they’ve stuck to four seamers in Ruben Trumpelmann, JJ Smit, Jack Brassell and Max Heingo. They also have two spin options, Bernard Scholtz and captain Gerhard Erasmus, which means they have several bowlers to choose from as they look to limit Zimbabwe.

This is the 17th meeting between the two closely matched sides, with Namibia in a position of slight advantage. They have beaten Zimbabwe on eight previous occasions, while Zimbabwe have won seven matches, with one no-result.

Namibia: 1 Jan Frylinck, 2 Louren Steenkamp, 3 Gerhard Erasmus (capt), 4 Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 5 Zane Green (wk), 6 Alex Busing-Volschenk, 7 JJ Smit, 8 Ruben Trumpelmann, 9 Bernard Scholtz, 10 Jack Brassell, 11 Max Heingo

Zimbabwe: 1 Brian Bennett, 2 Ben Curran, 3 Dion Myers, 4 Sikandar Raza (capt), 5 Ryan Burl, 6 Wessly Madhevere, 7 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 8 Brad Evans, 9 Wellington Masakadza, 10 Newman Nyamhuri, 11 Blessing Muzarabani