'What we just achieved is beyond what we thought we could do'
"I'm a little bit speechless at the moment. What we just achieved is above what we thought we could do. I am just very excited at this point of time," man of the match Frylinck said in the post-match presentation.
'Speechless' Jan Frylinck of Namibia said they've achieved something beyod their expectations after stunning Sri Lanka in the ICC T20 World Cup opener in Geelong on Sunday. They crushed Sri Lanka by 55 runs in the opening clash of Group A.
"I'm a little bit speechless at the moment. What we just achieved is above what we thought we could do. I am just very excited at this point of time," man of the match Frylinck said in the post-match presentation.
After some late big hitting from Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit which helped Namibia post a competitive total, Ben Shikongo and Bernard Scholtz did the job with ball in the opening World Cup clash. 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.
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"Myself and JJ got us to a competitive total and the bowlers were just unbelievable. (Surface) It was a little bit two-paced, the good lengths were hard to get away. Other than that, it played rather true and you could just hit on the up. We just stuck to our plans (with the ball), tried to hit good lengths and let them make the mistakes," he added.
Skipper Gerhard Erasmus said it is a historic day for the Nambians.
"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," Erasmus said.
Sri Lanka kept losing wickets from the very beginning in their pursuit of 164 runs. Shikongo and Scholtz picked up a brace each to break the backbone of the Lankans' batting. Sri Lanka do bat pretty long, but batters threw it away and Ben Shikongo sent serious shivers when he almost picked a hat-trick in what was a double-wicket maiden over. Frylinck and Wiese showed how good their variations were.
Namibia will get the chance to book a Super 12 berth when they take on the Netherlands on Tuesday afternoon in Geelong. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have 48 hours to lick their wounds and recover ahead of their second match at the tournament against the UAE, also in Geelong on Tuesday.
