T20 World Cup: Namibia stun Sri Lanka, Netherlands squeeze past UAE

ARMED with solid self-belief, minnows Namibia have opened the T20 World Cup with a stunning 55-run upset thrashing of Sri Lanka.

The Namibians silenced the boisterous, pro-Sri Lankan crowd with an outstanding all-round performance yesterday (Sunday, October 16) at Geelong’s Kardinia Park.

It comes after they were one of the stories of last year’s World Cup, winning through to the Super 12 stage in their debut appearance.

Namibia are in the box seat to do it again after they outclassed their opposition on Sunday, only a month after Sri Lanka won the Asia Cup.

Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit batted them back into the match with a mighty seventh-wicket stand, Namibia defended their 7-163 with great bowling and fielding to dismiss Sri Lanka for 108 from 19 overs.

Initially, Frylinck reflected the incredulity of just about everyone in cricket when he accepted his man of the match award.

“I’m a little bit speechless … what we just achieved is above what we thought we could do,” said Frylinck, who also took two wickets.

But captain Gerhard Erasmus later spoke of a much stronger confidence as they compete at the World Cup for the second time.

“There was more hype and childish belief last year … this year, it was more something of we’ve played at the level and we can now mentally relate to that level,” he said.

“We can physically and skilfully relate to that level – we’ve played India and Pakistan, all these teams before.

“We went onto the field on an equal footing.”

As disciplined as Namibia were, Sri Lanka were terrible.

Sri Lanka won the toss and when off-spinner Maheesh Theekshana had David Wiese caught behind for a golden duck, Namibia were in major strife at 6-93 from 14.2 overs.

But Frylinck and Smit turned the match with a big-hitting stand of 70 from 34 balls as the Sri Lankan attack lost its way.

Frylinck was run out on the last delivery of the innings and top-scored with 44 from 28 balls, while Smit hit two sixes and two fours in his unbeaten 31 from 16 deliveries.

Namibia’s rally rolled into the start of the Sri Lankan innings, with 22-year-old fast bowler Ben Shikongo on a hat-trick in the fourth over.

He dismissed opener Pathum Nissanka and then Danushka Gunathilaka in his double-wicket maiden over to have Sri Lanka reeling at 3-21, a hole from which they could never recover.

Shikongo, Wiese and Bernard Scholtz also took two wickets apiece.

Sri Lanka’s poor day started badly when promising young left-arm paceman Dilshan Madushanka was ruled out of the tournament with a torn quaad .

The 22-year-old has a torn quad muscle and Binura Fernando, who did not play on Sunday, has taken his place in their Cup squad.

Captain Dasun Shanaka called for calm, with Sri Lanka now needing wins over the UAE and the Netherlands in their group to progress.

“We have a good team, but it’s about the process.

“There’s nothing to worry about – it’s the first game … we are a better team than this, especially when it comes to the bowling.”

In yesterday’s other game at Kardinia Park, The Netherlands hung on to beat UAE by three wickets with just one ball left.

Melbourne-raised captain Scott Edwards hit the winning run as the Dutch reached 7-112 in reply to the UAE’s 8-112 from their 20 overs.

While Edwards scored a crucial 16no from 19 balls to see the Dutch home after their late stumble, his counterpart CP Rizwan was left rueing a dreadful dropped catch.

Junaid Siddique had taken two wickets in the 14th over to leave the Netherlands reeling at 6-76.

Tim Pringle was yet to score in the same over when he skied the easiest of chances to Rizwan at mid-off, who somehow grassed it.

Pringle then made 15 in a crucial seventh-wicket stand of 27 with Edwards.

Zaheer Farid bowled Pringle in the second-last over, but Logan van Beek combined with Edwards to steer the Dutch home.

“It’s definitely heartbreaking – we put our heart and soul into it, but we could have grabbed those chances – mine, I must say, I could have grabbed that,” Rizwan said post-match.

“It would have made a difference.’

The Dutch were cruising at 2-59 in the ninth over, but steadily lost wickets and did not hit a boundary after the eighth over.

The UAE ultimately helped them by consistently bleeding runs as well making a couple of fielding errors, headlined by Rizwan’s dropped catch.

“It was always a little bit nervy until the end, but just relief we got over the line,” Edwards said.

“I’m still struggling to process it … getting the tournament underway with a win, which is the most important thing.”

Dutch opener Max O’Dowd top-scored with 23 and Junaid went so close to being the match-winner with 3-24 from four overs.

The UAE won the toss and with opener Muhammad Waseem pacing their innings, had reached 2-91 at the end of the 16th over.

But Muhammada slogged Fred Klaassen and Tim Pringle took a well-judged catch at long on to dismiss him for 41 off 47 balls.

From there the UAE innings fell apart – they lost their last six wickets for only 20 as man of the match Bas de Leede took three wickets in the 19th over.

With one ball left, Aayan Khan was dismissed for five and he tripped over the boundary rope on the way back to the dressing room, summing up the UAE’s innings.

This is the UAE’s second T20 World Cup after they debuted in 2014 and they are winless after four matches over the two tournaments.

– WITH AAP