Player of the Match
Player of the Match
750dAndrew Fidel Fernando

Namibia kick off World Cup in style with famous upset

Jan Frylinck, JJ Smit, Ben Shikongo show spirit and skill to hand Sri Lanka a heavy defeat

Match Centre

Statistics

Best performances - Batsmen

JN Frylinck
JN Frylinck
44(28) 4x4 - 0x6
Control %78%
  • Productive Shot
  • slog shot
  • 10 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
6 7 1 6 12 4 5 3
JJ Smit
JJ Smit
31(16) 2x4 - 2x6
Control %87%
  • Productive Shot
  • cut shot
  • 6 runs
  • 1x4 - 0x6
1 0 0 6 5 1 3 15

Best performances - Bowlers

D Wiese
D Wiese
O4
M0
R16
W2
Eco4.00
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
BM Scholtz
BM Scholtz
O4
M0
R18
W2
Eco4.50
RHB
OFFLEG
1W
  • FTFULL TOSS
  • YYORKER
  • FFULL LENGTH
  • GGOOD LENGTH
  • SGSHORT OF GOOD LENGTH
  • SSHORT LENGTH
LHB
LEGOFF
1W

Scorer: Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Madushka Balasuriya

END OF OVER:
19 | 2 Runs 1 Wkt | SL: 108/10 (56 runs required from 6 balls, RR: 5.68, RRR: 56.00)

  • Maheesh Theekshana11 (11b)
  • David Wiese4-0-16-2
  • Jan Frylinck4-0-26-2

And on that note, it's goodbye from myself, Ashish and the team. But don't go too far, Netherlands are just about to take on UAE and you can catch all the action right over here. Sri Lanka will be in action once again on Tuesday, as will Namibia. Until then, ciao!

Winning Captain Gerhard Erasmus: "It's been an incredible journey, last year was exciting for us and we've now topped that with a great win. Though there's still a lot of work to do for the rest of the tournament. But yeah it's been a historic day for us. [On head coach Pierre de Bruyne] He turned this whole ship around for us in 2019, he's instilled a culture in this team. One that's truly a winning culture and one that sticks together. With the limited resources that we have I guess you really have to run a tight ship and I don't think there's anyone else who could run such tight ship like he has done over last three years. And days like this are payback for his effort."

Losing Captain Dasun Shanaka: "I think the surface played really well but the execution was not there when it comes to the bowling. We're concerned whether our bowlers bowled in the right areas as compared to the Namibian bowlers. We also wanted the first three batters to continue in the first play, so losing three wickets in the first powerplay put us out of the game. [Next game] the plan should be simple, not to do anything special. It's about process. When chasing 160 you need good partnerships at the top and numbers three and four to kick in. The bowlers especially they need to hit their areas."

Namibia now have more wins vs full-member teams (IRE 2021 & SL 2022) in T20 World Cups than Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. And the same number of wins as Afghanistan and Ireland.

Mustafa Moudi: "Fun Fact: This is the Biggest Win for Namibia against a side that features in the Top 20 in the ICC T20I Ranking. All their higher margin wins have come against Botswana, Kenya and Uganda !!"

Player of the Match Jan Frylinck: "I'm a little bit speechless at the moment. What we've just achieved is above what we thought we could do and I'm very just excited at this point in time. JJ just came in and took the pressure off me by hitting a couple of boundaries, and then myself and JJ just got us to a competitive total and the bowlers were just great after that. [The surface] it was a little bit two-faced, a little hard to get away. Other than that it stayed rather true. [With the bowling] just stuck to our plans, hit good lengths and let them make the mistakes."

6.22pm Well, who would have seen this coming? Incredible stuff from Namibia, who have not only secured a historic win but also struck a heavy blow to Sri Lanka's qualifying hopes by virtue of denting their net run rate. The win was set up by a fantastic 70-run 7th wicket stand between Frylinck and Smit, before the bowlers just chipped away with unerring consistency. Sri Lanka's batters, whether it was impatience or complacency, were just unable to get away the bowlers. And they paid for it with their wickets, with several batters guilty of holing out trying to go big. As it is, Sri Lanka - like they had to at the Asia Cup - will need to win their next two games but also hope that other results go their way to qualify. As for Namibia, they are well and truly in the qualification driving seat.

18.6
W
Wiese to Chameera, OUT, And that's that! Chameera looks to swing this over deep midwicket but only finds the man in the deep. What a win for Namibia, as they secure a 55-run win!

PVD Chameera c Erasmus b Wiese 8 (20m 15b 0x4 0x6) SR: 53.33

18.5
0
Wiese to Chameera, no run, short ball, goes for the uppercut and misses
18.4
0
Wiese to Chameera, no run, Almost cleans him up! Yorker finds it's way past leg and through Chameera's
18.3
0
Wiese to Chameera, no run, another slower ball, keeps very low. Bounces twice on the way through to the keeper.
18.2
1
Wiese to Theekshana, 1 run, slower ball on a length, waits for this and opens this face down to third man once more
18.1
1
Wiese to Chameera, 1 run, Swings hard across the line, gets a thick outside edge down to third man

Sri Lanka 2nd innings Partnerships

WktRunsPlayers
1st12BKG MendisP Nissanka
2nd9DM de SilvaP Nissanka
3rd0MD GunathilakaDM de Silva
4th19PBB RajapaksaDM de Silva
5th34PBB RajapaksaMD Shanaka
6th6MD ShanakaPW Hasaranga
7th8MD ShanakaC Karunaratne
8th0C KarunaratnePramod Madushan
9th4PVD ChameeraC Karunaratne
10th16PVD ChameeraM Theekshana

ICC Men's T20 World Cup

First Round Group A
TeamMWLPTNRR
SL32140.667
NED3214-0.162
NAM31220.73
UAE3122-1.235
First Round Group B
TeamMWLPTNRR
ZIM32140.2
IRE32140.105
SCOT31220.304
WI3122-0.563
Group 1
TeamMWLPTNRR
NZ53172.113
ENG53170.473
AUS5317-0.173
SL5234-0.422
IRE5133-1.615
AFG5032-0.571
Group 2
TeamMWLPTNRR
IND54181.319
PAK53261.028
SA52250.874
NED5234-0.849
BAN5234-1.176
ZIM5133-1.138