Namibia earn shock win against Sri Lanka in T20 World Cup opener

Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit starred as Namibia sprung a big surprise in the opening match of the T20 World Cup, beating 2014 champions Sri Lanka by 55 runs in Geelong.

After winning the Asia Cup last month, Sri Lanka were tipped to shine in Australia, but they have stumbled out of the blocks and now face an uphill battle to reach the Super 12s stage.

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Namibia, an associate nation ranked 14th in T20s, slipped to 93 for six, but Frylinck’s 44 off 28 balls and Smit’s unbeaten 31 in 16 deliveries in a 70-run stand in 6.4 overs lifted them to 163 for seven.

Sri Lanka are six places higher than their opponents in the world T20 rankings but were unable to string together a partnership of any substance and were all out for 108 in 19 overs.

Frylinck, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz and Ben Shikongo took two wickets apiece as Namibia claimed only their second victory over a Test nation – their first came against Ireland last year.

Sri Lanka now need to win both of their remaining fixtures in Group A of what is the preliminary first-round stage to guarantee progress to the Super 12s.