T20 World Cup: Namibia Scripts History, Beat Sri Lanka by 55 Runs

Namibia, on Sunday (October 16) outclassed Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the opening game of the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup at Simonds Stadium, Australia. 

Putting to bat first, Namibia found themselves in all sorts of troubles after being reduced to 35/3 within powerplay. However, thanks to Stephan Baard and skipper Gerhald Erasmus’s fourth wicket partnership of 41 runs, Namibia returned to the track. 

Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit played blinder of an inning at the backend and forged a match-defining partnership worth 70 runs off just 34 balls to propel the Erasmus-led side to a fighting total of 163 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

While Jan Frylinck hammered 44 runs off just 28 balls, JJ Smit remained undefeated for 31 runs off just 16 balls. For Lankan Lions, Pramod Madushan picked two wickets while the other bowlers managed to get one each. 

In reply, Sri Lanka was bowled out for just 108 in 19 overs. The Namibian bowlers were right on the money as they kept the Sri Lankan on the extreme back foot from the get-go and never allowed them to settle in the middle.

For Namibia, the likes of David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, Jan Frylinck and Ben Shikongo picked two wickets each while JJ Smit also picked one in his three overs’ spell. 

Two teams from each group qualify for Super 12s, which begin on 22 October. Sri Lanka and Namibia join Netherlands and United Arab Emirates in Group A in the first round. West Indies, Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland make up Group B.

After this loss, Sri Lanka are left with two games, against UAE and Netherlands, respectively and they need to win it all in order to qualify for the Super 12s. 

What’s next? 

Namibia will take on Netherlands on Tuesday, October 18 at Geelong while Sri Lanka will take on United Arab Emirates on the same day at the same venue. 

Brief Scores:

Namibia: 163/7 (20)

Jan Frylinck 44(28), JJ Smit 31(16)*

Pramod Madushan 2/37, Maheesh Theekshana 1/23

Sri Lanka: 108/10

Dasun Shanaka 29(23), Bhanuka Rajapaksa 20(21)

David Wiese 2/16, Bernard Scholtz 2/18

Namibia won by 55 runs.