T20 World Cup: Namibia stun Sri Lanka by 55 runs in tournament opener

A spirited Namibia plated up the first upset of the T20 World Cup in the very first match of the tournament by defeating Asia Cup 2022 champions Sri Lanka in the curtain raiser. Playing at Geelong on Sunday, 16 October, the Gerhard Erasmus lead team were all over the Lankans from ball one as they reduced the Lankans to 80/6 in the first 13 overs, cleaning up the entire batting line-up. The Sri Lanka batters were themselves to blame for their downfall, choosing the wrong balls to show aggression against a disciplined bowling show from the Namibians, who were able to find the correct length on the pitch.

Things did not start well for the Sri Lanka were forced to make a last minute change with Dilshan Madushanka getting ruled out of the tournament. With the left-arm pacers services, Sri Lanka conceded 163 runs in the first innings, a target they were not able to chase down.

Coming into the game, Namibia all-rounder David Wiese had said that their was belief in the team that they could compete against other Test playing nations. The Namibian side backed up the comments of their veteran allrounder by sticking together and braving out the Sri Lanka pace attack after they lost their openers early in the game.

Grabbing wickets in regular intervals, Sri Lanka looked in control for the majority of the first innings, but a late assault threw them off. Two partnerships, first between Stephan Baard and Gerhard Erasmus and the second one between Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit turned the tides in the favour of the African side. While Baard and Erasmus rebuilt the innings at a slow pace, Frylink and Smit took on the Sri Lanka attack in the final 6 overs of the game



and scored almost half the runs of the Namibian target. The duo added 69 runs off just 33 balls and made sure that they put on a competitive total on board.

With the pitch bouncing slightly more than expected, Namibia knew that they could do damage with their pace attack, suited for matches with tricky targets. They came out with hard lengths against the SL batters, who looked in a hurry to score runs on the day.

The team was rocked by Ben Shikongo's double strike in the 4th over of the match, where he removed Pathum Nissanka and Danushka Gunathilaka in back to back deliveries. Shikongo would have gotten his hat-trick as well, if the ball would have pitched inside the line against left hander Bhanuka Rajapaksa, who was caught plumb in front by the right-arm medium pacer.

Once the middle order as gone, Sri Lanka looked a shadow of a side that won the Asia Cup and kept throwing away wickets, trying to go for the big hit.

Stephan Baard and Gerhard Erasmus and the second one between Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit turned the tides in the favour of the African side. While Baard and Erasmus rebuilt the innings at a slow pace, Frylink and Smit took on the Sri Lanka attack in the final 6 overs of the game and scored almost half the runs of the Namibian target. The duo added 69 runs off just 33 balls and made sure that they put on a competitive total on board.

Four Namibian players, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, Shikongo and Jan Frylinck picked two wickets each, in a complete performance from the African side.

Jan Frylinck was adjudged the man of the match for his 44 runs and 2 wickets.