DUBAI SPORTS CITY(Namibia won toss)Namibia, 297 for eight, beat Bermuda, 211 all out, by 86 runsThe inconsistencies that have plagued Bermuda’s cricket team in the recent past were glaringly exposed against Namibia and it may yet cost them dearly.Yesterday’s defeat has left their World Cricket League Division Two status hanging by a thread and beating UAE tomorrow is the only sure way of saving it.Of course, to do so they will have to produce their best performance of the tournament and how likely that is will largely depend on which Bermuda shows up.If the Dion Stovell who scored 73 against Namibia and got his side off to a blistering start is at the crease then they might win.If the Stefan Kelly who bowled with pace and aggression and accuracy shows up, they might win.And if skipper David Hemp, who lasted just two balls yesterday, gets over his slump at the top of the order they might win.The problem is that Bermuda can’t be consistent from one over to the next, let alone for an entire game.Anyone dipping in and out of the defeat to Namibia might be forgiven for wondering if they were watching two different teams, and certainly would have questioned how Bermuda conspired to lose to Papua New Guinea and Uganda.On the back of an impressive opening spell from Kelly, who was ably supported by Kyle Hodsoll, Bermuda kept a stranglehold on Namibia batsmen Ewald Steenkamp (87) and Sarel Burger (59).Hodsoll was particularly miserly, conceding just 38 runs from his 10 overs.Although the pair put on 155 for the second wicket, following Damali Bell’s fortunate dismissal of Andries Burger, who was bowled when a mistimed hook saw the ball hit the floor and gently roll back on to the stumps, it took them until the 25th over just to get the score past 100.Bermuda continued to squeeze and when Steenkamp was finally out, caught in the deep by Kelly trying to hit Rodney Trott out of the ground, Namibia were 157 for two after 36.1 overs.Even with the batting power play to come, Bermuda should not have been looking at letting Namibia score more than another 100 runs.As it was, for some reason, the bowling and the fielding disintegrated, and skipper Craig Williams took full advantage. Coming in after Steenkamp’s dismissal, he butchered the Bermuda attack, scoring 74 from 35 balls as the final 13.5 overs of the innings went for 140 runs.Bell took most of that punishment, eventually finishing with two wickets for 83 runs from his 10 overs.On a small ground though, Bermuda still felt the 298 that they needed to win was getable. Unfortunately they let themselves down at key times and were eventually all out with 7.3 overs to spare.“We did, (think we could do it) the size of ground, the quickness of the field, you think you’re still in the game,” said Hemp. “What was disappointing was that they got away. They were 157 off 36 overs, you think going into the last 14, if they play well they get around 250 then you’ve got a chance.“They certainly took momentum into the bowling innings because they went hard in the last period of our bowling spell. But, 300 was getable, OK, we got 211, but the scoresheet at the end of the day won’t reflect that (the total was getable).“There were still eight overs left. We hadn’t taken the power play because we lost two sets of three wickets at key times.The closeness of the game I don’t think was reflected, but again we can’t afford to ease off.“At 36 overs they were only 150, they were only two down but they were only going at 4.3 an over and we were in the game massively. We let it slip. We weren’t up to how we have been in the field, but someone’s got to get a big hundred and couple of people to chip in, and today obviously we didn’t do it.”Chasing 298 Bermuda were always going to need everything to go in their favour, so losing Hemp to Louis Klazinga in the first over for a duck certainly didn’t help matters.Stovell, though, was in one of those moods, primarily because of a running verbal battle with the entire Namibia side when everything that came within touching distance was going out of the ground.Firstly alongside Chris Foggo (11) and then with Irving Romaine (21), Stovell blasted away at Namibia with such force that he knocked both their opening bowlers out of the attack and caused Williams to switch his field so often that Namibia didn’t know if they were coming or going.With 16 overs gone, Bermuda were 106 for three and still very much in the game. Then they lost Romaine, who fell caught and bowled to LP van der Westhuizen, Stovell, who hit the same bowler to Williams in the covers, and Borden, who was out first ball, and had slumped to 113 for six in the space of 10 balls.That left Lionel Cann (53) and Rodney Trott (29) to pick up the pieces and they did so with aplomb, putting Namibia under such pressure that Williams rotated his bowlers so often that it was remarkable any of them were able to find their rhythm.Having taken their side to within sight of 200, and with a batting power play of their own still to come, Bermuda were certainly in with a chance of winning. Cann, however, fell soon after reaching his 50 when he was a fraction late on a drive and hit the ball straight into the hands of van der Westhuizen at mid-on.At 194 for seven any chance of Bermuda snatching a victory had gone, and despite some late defiance from the tail end, they eventually succumbed in 42.3 overs.“We struggled with our bowling combinations and there were a lot of loose balls,” said Namibia coach Johan Rudolph. “We’ve still some things to work on, but otherwise we’re quite chuffed to have this win.“We said before this tournament that we wanted to secure a top four spot first, to get the High Performance grant and everything that goes with it. I don’t know if we’re in the final yet, but we’ll just try and keep winning and go from there.”