A shocker to kick of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 as Namibia stun Asia Cup Champions Sri Lanka in the tournament opener. Namibia register their first win in the T20 World Cup. Its an historic day for cricket Namibia. Sri Lanka are once again of to an embarrassing loss and a lot to think about heading into the next game.
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Earlier in the day Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanka won the toss and elected to field first. Dushmantha Chameera struck in his very first over dismissing Michael van Lingen for 3 runs. Nichole Loftie Eaton in at no 3 scored a quickfire 20 runs in 12 balls. Namibia at the end of powerplay scored 43/3.
Gerhard Erasmus struggled to time the ball scoring 20 runs in 24 balls. At the halfway mark Namibia were 68/3. Wanindu Hasranga dismissed Erasmus in the 11th over. Pramod Madushan got rid of the dangerous Stephen Baard in the 14th over as Namibia were reduced to 91/5.
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Frylinck and JJ Smit power Namibia to 163 runs
Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit joined hands as the duo scored 72 runs in the last 5 overs. Jan Frylinck scored 44 runs in 28 balls smashing 4 fours. JJ Smit scored 31 runs in 16 balls smashing 2 sixes and 2 fours. The firepower at the backend of the innings shifted the momentum towards Namibia heading into the innings break.
Sri Lanka bowled out for 108
After a bizarre bowling performance in the last 5 overs Sri Lanka had to chase a lot more than they would have expected. David Wiese dismissed Kusal Mendis in the 2nd over for 6 runs as Mendis edges one to the Zane Green behind the stumps.
Ben Shikongo’s 4th over in the powerplay completely turned the game in Namibia’s favour. Shikongo dismissed the inform Pathum Nissanka as he mistimes one to MIDON and an easy catch to JJ Smit. The very next ball Danushka Gunathilaka edges one to Zane Green and a double strike. Shikongo bowls the 1st maiden over of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.
Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka scored 20 and 29 runs respectively as Namibia bowlers with accuracy. Sri Lanka were never really in the chase from the start of the innings, wickets at regular intervals and no partnerships helped Namibia register an historic win by 55 Runs against Sri Lanka.
Captain’s Corner
Gerhard Erasmus: Incredible journey, last year was a special experience for us. We’ve started a great win, but lot of work to do throughout this tournament still. It’s been a historic day for us. The opening day has been quite special but we want to kick on from here and qualify for the Super 12 stage. We understand the bigger picture as well. Credit goes to Pierre (de Bruyn) the way he has installed coaching to this team, one that’s a winning culture and one that sticks together. With the limited resources, I don’t think there’s anyone else that could run such a tight ship.
Dasun Shanaka: The surface played really well, but we didn’t execute well with the ball. Didn’t bowl in the right areas and that’s a concern. Once we lose three wickets in the powerplay, we are usually out of the game. The plans should be simple, we need not do anything special. We got a good team, it’s about the process. When we are chasing 160, we need need some partnerships. Need the openers to come good and the No. 3 to click.
Man of the Match Jan Frylinck: I’m a little bit speechless at the moment. What we just achieved is above what we thought we could do. I am just very excited at this point of time. JJ just came in and took a little bit of pressure off me with a lot of boundaries. Myself and JJ got us to a competitive total and the bowlers were just unbelievable. (Surface) It was a little bit two-paced, the good lengths were hard to get away. Other than that, it played rather true and you could just hit on the up. We just stuck to our plans (with the ball), tried to hit good lengths and let them make the mistakes.
