Bermuda 219-8; Namibia 221-4

Namibia's dominance over Bermuda continued at Willowmoore Park in a World Cup qualifying warm-up game over the weekend.

Leading the charge was all-rounder LP van der Westhuizen who claimed three for 43 and blasted a boundary-filled 51off 49 balls before his team romped to victory with six wickets in hand and 20 balls to spare.

Westhuizen also held two catches to dismiss senior Bermuda batsmen Irving Romaine and Glenn Blakeney for added measure.

It was a fine all-round display that overshadowed a robust half-century by Janeiro Tucker and a tidy spell of spin bowling by namesake Tamauri that belied his still tender years.

Bermuda's loss to the Namibians, a team they haven't beaten in the last five years, also betrayed the positive strides they have made since arriving in South Africa earlier this month. And the margin of defeat would not have helped their confidence.

"We didn't handle pressure situations on the field as well as we could have. But at the end of the day I don't think we disgraced ourselves," commented national coach Gus Logie.

"Things didn't go as well as we planned and the guys were disappointed because they haven't beaten Namibia for so long and felt this was one of the days they had a good chance of doing so."

After openers Lionel Cann and Jekon Edness added 46 runs to give the Islanders a positive start, the runs dried up as Bermuda's batsmen were pegged down by a disciplined Namibian attack Among those guilty of sitting on their bats were Edness whose 18 runs came off 49 balls, Fiqre Crockwell who nudged eight off 32 deliveries and Blakeney who gobbled up 76 balls for his 30 runs.

"I think we lost it a bit in the middle overs when we were a little slow," added Logie.

Thanks to a swashbuckling knock of 54 off 37deliveries from Southampton Rangers player/coach Tucker, Bermuda's innings received a much needed blood transfusion in the final overs.

Bermuda were limping along at 125 for five when Tucker strolled out to the crease in the 39th over. After a slow start, the veteran all-rounder cut loose and thumped five sixes and four fours as for the first time the Namibian attack came under heavy bombardment.

Tucker dominated a 75-run stand with ex-English County player David Hemp and reached his half-century in the 47th over with a towering six over deep mid-wicket. But he departed in the same over, caught at wide mid-off, going for another big hit, and in his absence Hemp switched into Twenty/20 mode in a last ditch effort to prop up Bermuda's total.

The ex-Glamorgan skipper faced 52 balls and hit three fours and a six and remained unbeaten on 45 when tailender George O'Brien jr (five) was bowled with the final ball of the innings.

Others making valuable contributions to Bermuda's total, that ultimately proved too shallow to defend, was pinch hitter Cann who banged a spitfire 36 from 31 balls at the top of the order. The St. David's Islander made the Namibians pay for dropping him at first slip with the first delivery of the match as he slogged five fours and a six before finding Gerrie Snyman at mid-wicket.

Blakeney was also spilled at mid-wicket while Edness was dropped three times as the fielding of both teams left much to be desired.

"We dropped five catches and I think both teams' fielding was very poor," commented Namibia coach Johan Rudolph.

Logie agreed. "We also dropped a few catches that by our own standards we have done better in the past," he said.

Supporting Westhuizen in the bowling was seamer Ian van Zyl who seized two for 14 off four overs.

Fast bowler O'Brien struck in the first over to remove opener Richard Van Schoor for a golden duck as the Namibians' reply got off to a poor start. But it proved to be a false dawning as the Africans targeted Stefan Kelly at the other end. Reeling from the effects of a stomach bug, the Oakham School student was carted for a costly 44 runs off just 4.4 overs and to add insult to injury had the winning boundary scored off his bowling.

"Stefan felt kind of weak out there and I think that reflected in his bowling," added Logie. "I didn't think we bowled as well as we could have. I think we had a lot of extras (16) and didn't bowl as well as we have been lately. We gave away too many no balls (four) which resulted in free hits."

Off spinner Tucker (two for 31) stood out most among the crowd while fellow spinner Rodney Trott (one for 28) and pacer O'Brien (one for 32) also enjoyed a measure of success with the ball.

BERMUDA v NAMIBIA

Namibia won by six wickets at Willowmoore Park, Pretoria on Saturday.

Bermuda

L.Cann c Snyman b Van der Westhuizen 36

J.Edness st wkt Van Schoor b D.Kotze 18

G.Blakeney c Westhuizen b van Zyl 30

F.Crockwell run out (B. Kotze/Van Schoor) 8

David Hemp not out 45

I.Romaine c Westhuizen b Van Zyl 3

J.Tucker c L.Burger b Westhuizen 54

J.Robinson b L.Klazinga 0

G.O'Brien jr b Westhuizen 5

Extras (1b, 8lb, 1nb, 10w) 20

Total (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 219

Did not bat: R.Trott, S.Kelly

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-68, 3-95, 4-106, 5-125, 6-200, 7-204, 8-219

Bowling: G.Synman 6-2-18-0; L.Klazinga 7-0-60-1; LP Westhuizen 9-1-43-3; S.Burger 10-1-23-0; D.Kotze 8-2-23-1; M.Van Zyl 4-0-14-2; B.Kotze 4-0-11-0; C.Williams 1-0-7-0; L. Burger 1-0-11-0

Namibia

V.Westhuizen lbw R. Trott 51

R.Schoor lbw G. O'Brien jr 0

S.Burger b T.Tucker 54

C.Williams c.D. Hemp b T. Tucker 42

G.Synman not out 36

JB Burger not out 22

Extras (1lb, 1b, 10w, 4nb) 16

Total (for four wickets, 46.4 overs) 221

Did not bat: L.Burger, N.Scholtz, B.Kotze, D.Kotze, L.Klazinga

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-85, 3-161, 4-162

Bowling: G.O'Brien jr 6-0-32-1: S.Kelly 4.4-0-44-0; J.Tucker 4-0-17-0; D.Leverock 8-1-38-0; R.Trott 8-0-28-1; T.Tucker 10-0-31-2; J.Robinson 6-0-29-0

Umpires: B.Pradhan, N.Bagh