Namibia defeat Sri Lanka in wild upset to kick off T20 World Cup

The T20 Cricket World Cup just got underway with an absolute boilover in Group A.

Cricket minnows Namibia have produced a result nobody would have predicted after toppling the Asian Cup champions, Sri Lanka by 55 runs.

Sri Lanka looked to be on top after electing to bowl first as they had Namibia 3/35 after 5 overs.

But in front of a raucous crowd at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong, the fightback begun as Jan Frylinck topped the scores with 44 from only 28 deliveries.

His innings helped Namibia post a more than respectable 7/163, setting Sri Lanka a tough but achievable score.

Namibia had other ideas and put their opponents to the fire early as Sri Lanka limped to 3/21 after 21 deliveries.

The wickets continued to tumble as the Asian Cup champs threw their wickets away under the constant pressure being applied by the bowlers before they were eventually all out for a lowly 108.

Sri Lanka looked to be back on the right track thanks to a 34 run partnership between Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka.

The departure of Rajapaksa however saw Sri Lanka lose four wickets for only 18 runs as their hopes of securing a victory fell by the wayside.

Frylinck, after his contributions with the bat, produced a stellar display with the ball in hand, finishing with 2/26 from his four overs as he claimed man of the match honours.

“What we just achieved is above what we thought we could do,” he said after the historic win.

Bernard Scholtz, Ben Shikongo and David Wiese all secured two wickets for Namibia who barely put a foot wrong following their early batting collapse.

Cricket fans were floored by the staggering upset to get the tournament off and running.