Van Rooi the inspiration for Namibia in upset win

Burton Van Rooi was the toast of his Namibian team-mates today after the provided one of the upsets of the ICC Under-19 World Cup tournament on Bert Sutcliffe Oval at Lincoln University today.

Namibia beat one of the favoured sides to make the semi-finals Sri Lanka by four wickets.

Van Rooi took four wickets for 27 runs from his 8.5 overs as Sri Lanka were all out in only 40.5 overs. Only Jeevan Mendis with 57 off 81 balls, with only one boundary, offered anything like reasonable resistance to the Namibian attack.

So well did the Namibians bowl that only five boundaries were scored by the Sri Lankans. Backing up Van Rooi's efforts was Michael Greeff who took three for 25 from seven overs.

There was a minor hiccup for the Namibians as they set out for their target, losing four of their batsmen cheaply to be 34/4. However, Colin Steytler stood firm and scored 43 off 70 balls and shared a vital 56-run partnership for the sixth wicket with van Rooi who scored 29 not out off 59 balls.

Not out with van Rooi at the end of the innings was Tobias Verwey who scored 20 off 30 balls as Namibia got home with 5.3 overs to spare.

Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Fernando had caused some of the top order panic when taking two wickets and finishing the game with 21 off his nine overs.