The rise and rise of Namibia cricket

On 18 October, 2021, almost a year ago, Namibia faced Sri Lanka in their first-ever T20 World Cup game in their men's cricket history and quite expectedly were blown away by the former champions. The rest was history. Gerhard Erasmus' side won the rest of their matches in the first round and they not only qualified for the Super 12s but also notched up a brilliant win against Scotland in the tournament-proper.

A year later, on Sunday, Namibia produced one of the greatest results in the history of their cricket. Just like the previous edition, Namibia faced Sri Lanka in their opening game in the World Cup but this time the result was different with Sri Lanka being at the receiving end. 

Now, Sri Lanka started the match as overwhelming favourites. They recently won the Asia Cup, bettering teams like India and Pakistan. The team is in much better shape compared to that of the previous edition. They have a bunch of in-form players and were bolstered by the return of their premier fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera. 

But, honestly, nothing mattered for Namibia. 

Although they lost three wickets inside five overs and six inside 15 overs including those of captain Erasmus and the experienced David Wiese, Namibia had the firepower in the batting line-up to go for the kill in the final quarter of the innings. 

Prior to this match, Jan Frylinck had a strike rate of less than 110 and a career-best score of 20 in T20Is, but his performance against Sri Lanka was outstanding to say the least. Here are some numbers to back up the statement. Frylinck struck four boundaries in his 28-ball-44 which means he scored 28 off the 24 non-boundary balls. He played just four dot balls, ran 13 singles, six twos and a three and two off his four boundaries came off Chameera, Sri Lanka's spearhead of the attack. 

Frylinck added a stunning 69 off 5.3 overs with a designated hitter in JJ Smit. Namibia's leading six-hitter, Smit hit two sixes and as many fours en route to his 31 not out off just 16. Thanks to these two, Namibia scored as many as 57 at the death (overs 17-20) which was by far their best slog-over batting effort against a Test-playing nation (topping 37 against India and Pakistan).

Namibia did their homework very well and it was evident from their bowling. Sri Lanka's batting mantra has been to attack and hit boundaries despite the fall of wickets and it was how they won the Asia Cup final. But here in Geelong, Namibia dried up the boundaries and there was a period of 48 balls without a four or a six (from 9.4 overs to 17.4 overs). It was an all-rounder bowling effort as everyone apart from Erasmus, who bowled the opening over only, was among the wickets. 

It was Namibia's second win against a full member in T20 World Cups which is already more than the likes of Bangladesh (seven appearances) and Zimbabwe (five appearances). And it's just the second time they are playing the World Cup. It was comfortably their biggest win against a top-15 team. 

Namibia's last T20I series was against another full member - Zimbabwe. They won the series 3-2 and the victory margins were - eight wickets, six wickets and 32 runs. It's safe to say that they were well-prepared to take on bigger teams like Sri Lanka. 

But Namibia are not going to stop here. "We've started with a great win, but a lot of work still to be done throughout this tournament," said captain Gerhard Erasmus and this year's World Cup may well be another journey to remember for the Eagles.