Zimbabwe opt to bowl against Namibia; Muzarabani returns

On Sep 3, 2026

Toss Zimbabwe opt to bowl vs Namibia

It’s crunch time in the Namibia T20I tri-series as Zimbabwe look to keep their chances of making the final alive. They’ve lost both matches against South Africa and now need to beat Namibia and hope South Africa do the same tomorrow to keep themselves in contention for the unique tree-stump trophy.

After winning a last-ball thriller over Namibia on Monday and then being totally outplayed by South Africa on Tuesday, Zimbabwe have had a day off to recover. It was not enough for Newman Nyamhuri to get over a slight niggle and he will miss out on this match. Blessing Muzarabani, who sat out two days ago, is back in the XI. Kundai Matigimu, who made his T20I debut two days ago, keeps his place in the side.

Zimbabwe’s attack will make first use of the surface, which was the same one used in match one, when Namibia successfully defended 163 against South Africa. With that victory fresh in their mind, Namibia wanted to bat first again and were happy to be put in.

They also made one change to their XI with their leading T20I wicket-taker, left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz missing out for offspin-bowing allrounder Jan Balt.

The record between Namibia and Zimbabwe is as close as it gets with both teams winning eight of the 16 matches they have played against each other.

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 Jan Balt 10 Jack Brassell, 11 Max Heingo

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

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