The underdogs were exceptional with the ball and in the field after a late onslaught with the bat had given Namibia an above-par total against Sri Lanka
Geelong: Namibia 163-7, Sri Lanka 108 - Namibia win by 55 runs
Namibia opened the T20 World Cup by pulling off a major shock, defeating Asia Cup winners Sri Lanka by 55 runs.
A sensational performance with the ball and in the field followed a batting display that had looked to be struggling until JJ Smit and Jan Frylinck added 68 runs in the final five overs of the innings.
Defending 163 at Geelong, where plenty of recent wet weather had left the outfield slow, Ben Shikongo took the wickets of Pathum Nissanka and Danushka Gunathilaka in consecutive balls in his first over to put Sri Lanka on the back foot after Kusal Mendis had top-edged a pull against David Wiese.
From then on, Namibia were all over their more illustrious opposition: Dhananjaya de Silva clipped a slower delivery from Frylinck to fine leg, Bhanuka Rajapaksa picked out deep midwicket to give Bernard Schultz his first of two wickets, the second coming when Wanindu Hasaranga did the same. Dasun Shanaka was brilliantly caught by Zane Green, diving full-length to catch a skier, before Pramod Madushan was run out by Michael van Lingen's sharp work. Chamika Karunaratne then holed out to long-off and Dushmantha Chameera to midwicket.
Namibia could scarcely have played better, forcing Sri Lanka to hit towards the longest parts of the ground. Not a single catch went down, not a chance was missed.
It represented a remarkable turnaround from earlier in the game, when Sri Lanka had appeared in charge until the first-ball dismissal of David Wiese in the 15th over launched a change of fortune.
Ben Shikongo took wickets in successive balls to put Namibia on top (Martin Keep/AFP via Getty Images)
Frylinck and Smit added 70 in just 5.4 overs, finding their runs in different ways. Smit targeted the short square boundaries, while the left-handed Frylinck was adept at hitting the gaps. There were just four boundaries in his 44.
They had come together with plenty to do to take the underdogs to a competitive total after the top order struggled to adapt at first to a surface in Geelong that offered plenty of extra bounce but was also a little slow.
Openers van Lingen and Divan la Cock both fell in the first three overs – van Lingen top-edging the pace of Chameera to third man, la Cock lobbing a leading edge to mid-on.
Nicol Loftie-Eaton contributed the first real signs of aggression, getting inside the line to help the pace of Chameera over fine leg for six before carving Karunaratne over the cover boundary. He was stopped in his tracks, though, when wicketkeeper Mendis caught him brilliantly in one hand, diving to his left.
Thereafter, Stephan Baard and captain Gerhard Erasmus rebuilt at little more than a run a ball, until Erasmus' boundaryless innings came to an end when he top-edged a Hasaranga googly to deep midwicket to give last year's leading wicket-taker his first scalp of this year's tournament.
And when Baard departed two overs later, dragging a waist-high full-toss from Madushan to deep square leg, Namibia's rebuild looked to be for nothing. Wiese, held back until No.7 despite being the most renowned hitter in their ranks, feathered behind first ball, which paved the way for the late assault from Frylinck and Smit, who set up a fabulous victory that has given this tournament an ideal start.