Scotland have held their nerve to grind out a tough win as they moved to the top of Group B with an emphatic victory over Namibia.

It was Scotland's first T20I victory over Namibia, and they’ll now move above the African nation in the ICC rankings.

The Scots were set a target of 156, but the chase was anything but comfortable – Richie Berrington sealed the deal with a maximum in the second-last over.

Scotland caught a bout of the jitters with the bat, falling to 73/4 after 11 overs, before Berrington and Michael Leask stepped up and steered them back on course.

Scotland completed the chase with nine balls to spare, which doesn’t properly reflect how tense it got.

Namibia won the toss at an overcast but dry Bridgetown, with captain Gerhard Erasmus opting to bat first.

And it was the skipper who made the biggest contribution as he helped get his side up to a competitive total of 155/9 at the Kensington Oval, hitting a powerful 52 from 31 balls before being stumped off Leask.

Scotland started superbly with the ball, picking up the first wicket before a run had been scored, as Brad Wheal had JP Kotze caught for a duck.

And two further wickets fell in the Powerplay, with Jan Frylinck (12) dragging a Brad Currie delivery onto his stumps and Nikolaas Davin (20) holing out off Chris Sole.

Zane Green (28 off 27) and David Wiese (14 off 13) kept an impressive Scottish attack from running through the Namibia batting line-up, but later runs were hard to come by, with only Erasmus showing fluency out in the middle, as Scotland held the total to 155/9.

George Munsey (7 off 15) was an early victim, as Scotland kicked off its chase, and the dismissal of Michael Jones (26 off 20) had the side at 49/2 in the eighth over.

Namibia keeper Zane Green came up with an intelligent piece of play behind the stumps to have Brandon McMullen caught out of his crease – a dramatic moment that saw a momentum shift.

But Berrington struck consecutive boundaries to end the 13th over, which put the chase back on his side's terms.

And a 19-run flurry in the 17th over had Scotland firmly within grasp of the team's first-ever T20I win over Namibia, as the partnership jumped over the 50-run mark.

Scotland now gives themselves a chance to deny either Australia or England, the Group B heavyweights, a path into the second round.

Namibia's now one win, one loss, having claimed a dramatic Super Over win over Oman earlier in the tournament.