Late Frylinck-Smit blitz lift Namibia to 163 in World Cup opener against Sri Lanka
"163 is competitive. JJ (Smit) was targeting the shorter boundaries. It worked out in the end. Hard lengths are tough to get away, so we got to be consistent in that area when we bowl. We are confident of winning this," Frylinck said after his blistering 44-run innings.
Some late big hitting from Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit has helped Namibia post a competitive total in the opening ICC Men's T20 World Cup clash against Sri Lanka in Geelong on Sunday.
Frylinck (44) and Smit (31*) put together 70 runs for the seventh wicket in just more than five overs as Namibia overcame a shaky start to register 163/7 from their 20 overs at Kardinia Park.
On a two-paced track, Namibia lost three wickets inside the powerplay and the Lankans bowled with a lot of discipline in the middle overs. Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton (20) fell to a wonderful catch from Kusal Mendis as the score was just 43/3 at the end of the Powerplay.
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Baard and Erasmus were involved in a fifty partnership but their rate of scoring wouldn't have fazed the bowling team.
Both the set batters were dismissed in quick succession. And when David Wiese perished for a golden duck against Theekshana, it looked like Namibia had their backs against the wall at 93/6. But Jan Frylinck and Smit had other ideas.
They targeted the shorter side for boundaries and and picked a lot of twos with the help of the longer side.
The Lankan bowlers were all over the place towards the end and that allowed Namibia to post a competitive total.
"163 is competitive. JJ (Smit) was targeting the shorter boundaries. It worked out in the end. Hard lengths are tough to get away, so we got to be consistent in that area when we bowl. We are confident of winning this," Frylinck said after his blistering 44-run innings.
For Sri Lanka, Pramod Liyanagamage bagged a brace while other bowlers picked up a wicket each.
