Namibia shocks Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup opener

• Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign got off to a terrible start on Sunday in Geelong
• As the previous champions were defeated by tenacious Namibia by a score of 55 runs.
• Jan Frylinck, an all-rounder, was named man of the match after leading Namibia to a reasonable score on a drop-in wicket with 44 runs from 28 balls.

Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign got off to a terrible start on Sunday in Geelong as the previous champions were defeated by tenacious Namibia by a score of 55 runs.

In front of tens of thousands of eager fans on a sunny afternoon at Kardinia Park, Sri Lanka, the surprise Asia Cup champions, had intended to make an early statement against the African associate team.

Instead, Namibia celebrated their best-ever international victory, coming off a Super 12 run at the last World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

The 2014 winners Sri Lanka, who were dismissed for 108 while chasing 164, cannot afford any mistakes in their upcoming qualifying games against the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday and the Netherlands on Thursday.

Jan Frylinck, an all-rounder, was named man of the match after leading Namibia to a reasonable score on a drop-in wicket with 44 runs from 28 balls.

With his left-arm pace, he then took out Captain Dasun Shanaka (29) and Dhananjaya de Silva (12).

“I’m a little bit speechless at the moment, what we’ve just achieved is above what we thought we could do,” said Frylinck.

“Now I’m just very excited at this point in time.

“Myself and JJ (Smit) got us to a competitive total and the bowlers just stepped up and it was unbelievable.”

When Shanaka was down for 29, with his team still 76 runs short and three wickets in hand, Sri Lanka had collapsed to 21 for three, and their pursuit was all but finished.

“I think the surface played really well but the execution was not there when it comes to their bowling,” said Shanaka.

“Once we lost three wickets in the power play, we were out of the game … We’ve got a good team but it’s all about the process.

“When we’re chasing 160 we need (the top order) to kick in. And the bowlers need to hit the right areas.”

The absence of left-arm fast bowler Dilshan Madushanka, who was forced to withdraw from the competition due to a quadriceps muscle rupture, would force Sri Lanka to recover on its own.

Binura Fernando joined the team to take his spot.

Namibia has made the biggest strides among the second-tier sides and will bet on themselves to return to the Super 12s with a strong South African influence in their coaching.

“Incredible journey. Last year was a special experience for us and we’ve topped that with a great win,” Captain Gerhard Erasmus said.

“A historic day for us but we want to kick on from here and make that Super 12.”

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