Published 19:41 IST, October 16th 2022
Namibia's winning moment en route to historic upset over Sri Lanka in T20 WC opener: Watch
Namibian players were seen celebrating their hearts out after picking the last wicket of the game, which ensured their maiden victory in the tournament.
Namibia on Sunday registered a historic win against Sri Lanka in their opening match of Round 1 of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Namibia defeated Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 55 runs courtesy of an all-round performance from Jan Frylinck, who scored 44 runs with the bat and also picked two wickets to his name.
After the game, Namibian skipper Gerhard Erasmus said it's been an incredible journey for his entire team since last year and now they topped that with a great win against Sri Lanka. Erasmus, meanwhile, noted there's still a lot of work to do for the rest of the tournament. He said it's been a historic day for the team.
"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," Namibian skipper Gerhard Erasmus said in his post-match presentation.
Namibian players were seen celebrating their hearts out after picking the last wicket of the game, which ensured their maiden victory in the tournament. Here's the winning moment of the Namibian cricket team en route to a historic upset over Sri Lanka.
Namibia vs Sri Lanka
At Victoria's GMHBA Stadium, Sri Lanka opted to field first after winning the toss for the game. Batting first, Namibia scored 163/7 in 20 overs thanks to Jan Frylinck's outstanding batting performance. The run out effected by Danushka Gunathilaka and Kusal Mendis ended the Namibian batter's innings after he had scored 44 runs off 28 deliveries.
The team's total also received a boost from Stephen Baard (26), Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (20), and Gerhard Erasmus (20). Toward the conclusion of their innings, JJ Smit scored 31 runs off just 16 balls, pushing Namibia's total above 160. Maheesh Theekshana, Dushmantha Chameera, Chamika Karunaratne, and Wanindu Hasaranga each took one wicket, while Pramod Liyanagamage picked up two for Sri Lanka.
Namibia then bowled Sri Lanka out for just 108 runs in 19 overs. Ben Shikongo, Jan Frylinck, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, and Ben Shikongo each took two wickets, and JJ Smit took one wicket to his name. Because of his all-round performance in the game, Frylinck was named player of the match.
Image: Twitter/ICC
Updated 19:41 IST, October 16th 2022