Brave Namibia make England battle

Tour match, Windhoek
England 260-6 beat Namibia 193-4 by 67 runs
Match reduced to 42 overs per side

Match scorecard

England reaction

England were given cause for concern in a number of areas before beating Namibia by 67 runs in Windhoek.

Pluses included the batting of Michael Vaughan (89) and Andrew Strauss (73), and the increasingly reliable bowling of Warwickshire spinner Ashley Giles.

But the seamers disappointed, so too did makeshift opener Ian Bell (0) and newcomer Kevin Pietersen (5).

Inserted by Namibia, England totalled 260-6 before the hosts replied with 193-4, Morne Karg hitting 66.

Captain Vaughan hit his runs off just 92 balls, putting on 150 with Strauss for the third wicket after play had started two hours late due to excessively damp conditions.

There were some interesting pre-match developments in the morning - one waterlogged section of the ground had to be re-turfed while a helicopter buzzed over the wicket.

Sussex wicket-keeper Matt Prior and back-up spinner Gareth Batty missed out for England, who were allowed to play 12 men in all.

Pictures: Windhoek action

When conditions were finally dry enough for play, England lost the toss and theexperiment to open with Bell failed as the Warwickshire youngster was bowled by Gerrie Snyman for a duck.

Vikram Solanki (28) was the next to go, having added 62 with Vaughan before driving a catch to mid-on.

Morne Karg gave England some headaches by hitting 66

With the scoring rate up until then moderate, Vaughan found the perfect ally in Strauss and for a while the junior partner outscored the senior pro.

The partnership finally came to an end when Vaughan, in sight of his first England one-day hundred, was caught at long-on.

The dismissal triggered a collapse as four wickets fell for 11 runs, Louis Burger taking two of them.

Strauss edged a cut to the wicket-keeper in the following over, having scored his runs at better than a run a ball, before Pietersen and Geraint Jones both failed.

But Paul Collingwood thrashed 31 not out over the closing overs to make Namibia's task a stiff one.

Danie Keulder and JB Burger put on 61 for the first wicket, but the introduction of Giles slowed the scoring.

Have Your Say on TMS Chat about England's win

He also picked up the wickets of Burger - who drove a catch to extra cover - and Riaan Walters, snaffled by James Anderson at long-off.

Keulder, however, went on to hit 57 before beung undone by Simon Jones's slower ball which he drove to mid-on.

Giles returned to take the final wicket to fall, Karg lbw sweeping, but Darren Gough, James Anderson and Alex Wharf had all emerged wicketless.

Gough and Anderson were at least economical but Wharf's eight overs cost 50.

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Namibia: D B Kotze, D Keulder, L B Burger, S J Swanepoel, M Karg, G Snyman, A J Burger, S F Burger, H Ludik, K B Burger, R J van Vuuren, S J Swanepoel.

England: V S Solanki, I R Bell, A J Strauss, M P Vaughan, K P Pietersen, P D Collingwood, G O Jones, A F Giles, A G Wharf, D Gough, J M Anderson, S P Jones.