Wiese, Erasmus the heroes as Namibia qualify for the Super 12s

Namibia 126 for 2 (Erasmus 53*, Wiese 28*, Campher 2-14) beat Ireland 125 for 8 (Stirling 38, Frylinck 3-21, Wiese 2-22) by eight wickets

Sharjah: Ireland were knocked out of the Men's T20 World Cup as Namibia pulled off a shock eight-wicket win in Sharjah to reach the Super 12s.

Ireland laboured from 62-0 to 125-8 after Paul Stirling fell for 38.

Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus hit 53 not out from 49 balls and David Wiese an unbeaten 28 from 14 to seal victory with nine balls to spare.

Namibia are playing in their first T20 World Cup and are the lowest-ranked side.

In finishing as runners-up in Group A, they join India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Scotland in Group 2 of the Super 12s.

Sri Lanka bowled the Netherlands out for 44 in an eight-wicket thrashing in Sharjah later on Friday to confirm their status as Group A winners.

This is the biggest victory in Namibia's cricket history as the associate nation beat a Test side to take their place alongside the game's elite in the next phase.

Before this week they had never won a game at a T20 or 50-over World Cup. Having beaten the Netherlands on Wednesday, they now have two victories in three days.

As well as Erasmus batted during an unbroken stand of 53 with Wiese, he was fortunate to survive when, on 34, he was beaten by a delivery from seamer Craig Young which clipped off stump but did not knock the bails off.

In truth, it probably would not have mattered with Namibia the better side for almost all the match.

Despite Stirling and Kevin O'Brien powering Ireland to the highest powerplay total of the tournament - 55-0 - both were caught in the deep in consecutive overs as Ireland stalled badly.

Wiese finished with 2-22 and fellow medium-pacer Jan Frylinck 3-21, mixing up their pace on a slow, low pitch.

Namibia started slowly in their chase, but when Wiese smashed consecutive leg-side sixes in the 15th over the match swung definitively in their favour.