Cricket fans have been left in utter disbelief after the opening contest at the T20 World Cup produced an upset for the ages.
The T20 Cricket World Cup just got underway with an absolute boilover in Group A.
Cricket minnows Namibia have produced a result nobody would have predicted after toppling the Asian Cup champions, Sri Lanka by 55 runs.
Sri Lanka looked to be on top after electing to bowl first as they had Namibia 3/35 after 5 overs.
But in front of a raucous crowd at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong, the fightback begun as Jan Frylinck topped the scores with 44 from only 28 deliveries.
His innings helped Namibia post a more than respectable 7/163, setting Sri Lanka a tough but achievable score.
Namibia had other ideas and put their opponents to the sword early as Sri Lanka limped to 3/21 after 21 deliveries.
The wickets continued to tumble as the Asian Cup champs threw their wickets away under the constant pressure being applied by the bowlers and Namibia’s stellar fielding before they were eventually all out for a lowly 108.
Sri Lanka looked to be back on the right track thanks to a 34 run partnership between Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka.
The departure of Rajapaksa however saw Sri Lanka lose four wickets for only 18 runs as their hopes of securing a victory fell by the wayside.
Frylinck, after his contributions with the bat, produced a stellar display with the ball in hand, finishing with 2/26 from his four overs as he claimed man of the match honours.
“What we just achieved is above what we thought we could do,” he said after the historic win.
Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo and David Wiese all secured two wickets for Namibia who barely put a foot wrong following their early batting collapse.
Cricket fans were floored by the staggering upset to get the tournament off and running.
Namibia. Absolutely bonkers. Polish off Sri Lanka – the Asian Cup champions – by 55 runs to start the World Cup. It’s gonna be a good one. #T20WorldCup
Momentous upset on the opening day of #T20WorldCup. Namibia defeat Asia Cup champs Sri Lanka, what a start to the tournament #SLvNAM
The nightmare result spells further disaster for Sri Lanka who not only lost the contest, but were wiped off the park by Namibia.
A one-sided defeat puts them squarely behind the eight ball on the net run rate side of things and they’ll be hoping results go their way in the remaining group games so they can avoid having to take on fellow powerhouse nations.
Sri Lanka might not only lose this match but they might lose it & take a sizeable Net Run Rate hit – which is more likely to be significant if they lose. This is an enormous result for the tournament. #T20WorldCup
A Namibia win today (looking very likely with SL reeling at 88/8) opens up a very real possibility for both WI and SL to end up in the same group as Pakistan. 👀#T20WorldCup
Sri Lanka will look to bounce back when the take on the UAE on Tuesday while Namibia will square off against Netherlands earlier on the same day.