When Kenya and Namibia took to the field in Sharjah on Tuesday morning it marked the first time that these two leading African associate cricket nation were meeting in senior competition since 2006 in which resulted in a draw, this match however right from the off looked like it would be a different affair all together. Both teams were fielding numerous different players from the semifinal clash in Windhoek and it showed on the first day where in the previous match three hundred runs had been scored for the loss of only six wickets, a massive fifteen wickets were taken on the first day of the second match, and while the first match had petered out to a dull draw there was every chance that the match in Sharjah would have a result long before the allocated four days were up and in deed such was the case with Namibia closing out a win on the third day. However the biggest difference by far between these two games was the role played by one Gerry Snyman.

Whereas in the first game he was playing solely as a bowler in the second match he turned on the heat with the bats scoring a tremendous 230 out of his teams 282 to set up the 230 run lead and eventually Namibia’s win. What is more amazing about this feat is that Snyman, a player with three World Cup golden ducks to his name and initially introduced to the Namibia team as an opening bowler, did not turn his arm over a single time during the game and batted at 4 contributing an amazing 82% of his teams second innings runs. His overall contribution to the match in terms of runs exceeded by 19 the combined contribution of the rest of his team and represented more than one third of all the runs scored during the match and. While many many such a big total have been achieved in the history of multi day cricket though tough ‘hammer and nail’ slow innings Snyman’s 230 cam off a measly 201 deliveries at a strike rate of 114. 42 before he was eventually dismissed by Collins Obuya.

Gerry Snyman- The man who made all the difference…

Match aside the stunning result that Namibia who were probably regarded as dark horses coming into the beginning of this campaign now sit at the top of the table on 46 points of 3 games played, 2 ahead of Kenya who may yet retake the lead in the group pending their match against UAE later this week and with a considerable advantage over the other expected contenders, Ireland and Scotland, for one of the top two places in the round robin format that would guarantee a place in the final in Dubai towards the end of this year and even if they are not able to make that final they have gone a long way to placing a spanner in the works of this years Intercontinental Cup.