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After two years of waiting, the 20-20 World Cup finally came to Australia in 2022. The first match of the 20-20 World Cup qualifiers between Sri Lanka and Namibia was held in Simonds Stadium in Geelong. Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bowl. Namibia had a poor start, as they lost Michael Van Lingen and Divan La Cock to Dushmantha Chameera and Pramod Madushan, respectively. Wicketkeeper batter Loftie Eaton came and scored a bright and breezy 20 off 12 balls, with one four and two sixes, but he was shown the door by Chamika Karunaratne.
Stephan Baard scored 26 off 24 balls, with two fours, but was scalped up by Pramod Madhushan. Nambia was getting contributions from some batters, but none of them could convert them into a big score. When David Weise was dismissed by Maheesh Theekshana, with the score at 93-6, things looked bad for Namibia.
However, they got themselves back into the game with counterattacking contributions from Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit. The duo added a 70-run partnership off just 34 balls for the seventh wicket. Frylinck scored a superb 44 off 28 balls and Smit scored 31 not out off just 16 balls, with two fours and two sixes. This allowed Namibia to get to a competitive total of 163 in their 20 overs. Madushan was the pick of the bowlers for the Lankans as he scalped two wickets, conceding 37 runs in his four overs.
In the second innings, Sri Lanka fell off their wheels as they lost a wicket for just 12 runs on the board. They lost another wicket at the score of 21. From that point on, the island nation fell like a house of cards as they crumbled to 108-10 in just 19 overs. David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, and Jan Frylinck picked up two wickets each from their respective spells, and JJ Smit picked up the wicket of Chamika Karunaratne in his three-over spells.
This was a comprehensive win of 55 runs for the Men from Africa, who have started the 20-20 World Cup qualifiers on a terrific note. Sri Lanka’s qualification chances have suffered a major dent with this loss.
Sri Lanka, Asia Cup winners, on the brink of massive setback against Namibia. Topsy rurvy start to the World Cup!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 16, 2022
Who doesn’t love an @ICC event?!! Looks like we are literally going to have an upset in the first game. Asia Cup winners, 🇱🇰 may go down to Namibia 🇳🇦 WHAT..A..START!! 😱
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) October 16, 2022
Sri Lanka played poorly, obviously, but the story of the nqtch is how magnificently Namibia performed with bat, ball and in the field. Warning gong sounded for all teams in the WC that this is going to be a tough competition
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 16, 2022
Tremendous start to #ICCT20WorldCup2022 Biggest take-down of @gerharderasmus and Namibia crickets journey so far. Impressive.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) October 16, 2022
What a win for Namibia 🇳🇦and what start to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup!! #T20WorldCup #SLvNAM
— Mpumelelo Mbangwa (@mmbangwa) October 16, 2022
What an upset we have on our hands here ….. Namibia are on fire, fielding like they own the stadium.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 16, 2022
ICC did everything they could to bury the opening of the World Cup. Geelong. Qualifiers. Day game.
And Namibia just lit it up with their greatest win ever. The little that can.
— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) October 16, 2022
Take a bow Namibia 🙌🏽👏🏽 #SLvsNAM #T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/y8jySVWghZ
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) October 16, 2022
Namibia have done it – one of the most famous victory in the history of Namibian cricket. Defeated Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the opening game of 2022 World Cup.
Well played, Namibia! pic.twitter.com/Tvr1lfZk62
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) October 16, 2022
Terrific start to the tournament and what a day for Namibia. The underdog rules! 55 run win!! #SLvNAM @RevSportz @CricSubhayan
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 16, 2022
