(Poornama Edirisooriya writes)
Sri Lanka had a good start for the match. Dushmantha Chameera got the first Namibian wicket in his second ball. And a wicket each for Pramof Madushan and Chamika Karunaratne in their respective first overs as well. Loftie-Eaton Things were going nicely for Sri Lanka at the halfway mark of the Namibian inning, the scorecard reading was 78 for 4.
Poor Bowling in the Death Overs
At the end of the 15th over, Namibia's most dangerous hitter, David Wiese was in the pavilion after being dismissed for a golden duck by Maheesh Theekshana. Namibia was on the back foot as they made 95 for 6 with only 5 overs to go. As fans, we thought and expected a total of around 140. But, Jan Frylinck and JJ Smith had other ideas.
The duo added 11 runs for the 16th over off Chameera and seemed like they are going to maximize the last overs. Smit attacked Hasaranga in his last over as they got 10 runs off the legspinner, until this point Namibia batters didn't take a risk against Hasaranga, and that showed they have come up with a clear plan. Namibia was pushing the accelerator and Frylinck and Smit made 16, 18, and 13 runs for the last 3 overs bowled by Karunaratne, Madushan, and Chameera respectively. Frylinck kept batting nicely and Smit was very clever to find boundaries at the shorter side of the ground. When Frylinck was dismissed at the last ball of the inning, the duo had added 70 runs with a 200+ strike rate. It was just because of good batting, but also poor bowling by Sri Lankan bowlers who gave away too many boundary balls.
Didn't have a Good Start with the bat.
Chasing 164, Sri Lanka needed a good start from the Nissanka-Mendis combination just like they provided in the Asia Cup chases. Unfortunately, Mendis went to attack a short ball from Wiese and top-edged in the second over. 22 years old Ben Shikongo came up with an unexpected challenge for the Sri Lankan batter. Shikongo produced a double wicket maiden as he got Sri Lanka's highest-ranked T20 batter, Nissanka, and Danishka Gunathilake who is not having the best of times with the bat. Shikongo nearly took a hattrick too, fortunately for Bhanuka Rajapaksa, the LBW shout was turned down as it pitched outside leg.
Never got going
Rajapaksa and skipper Shanaka tried to rebuild the inning but wise bowling from Scholtz got Rajapaksa. Then on it was always a touch going for Sri Lanka as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. It was visible in Namibia’s bowling plan and what they have mastered with the ball. Even though they haven’t had the luxury of pace, their bowlers used variations more regularly and wisely while Sri Lankan bowlers kept giving pace in the death overs which was one of the major differences between the two teams.
It seemed like Sri Lanka batters never had an idea about the boundary dimensions, As the CricEngineer noted down in the previous article, batters could’ve avoided going air toward the bigger sides of the ground and could’ve attacked the shorter boundary just like JJ Smit did.
When Namibia beat Ireland last year, it was considered to be their best achievement thus far in their cricketing history. David Wiese was the man who hit the winning run and skipper Erasmus was the non-striker's end having made a half-century. Today, they renew their best moment of cricketing careers. Surprisingly skipper Erasmus took the catch of Chameera and David Wiese was the bowler. Surely the best win for Namibia so far & Namibian cricket fans will celebrate this win against Asia Cup winners for days.
What is ahead of Sri Lanka
Just google the weather forecast of Geelong on Thursday. You will get scared about Sri Lanka's chances. The forecast isn't helping Sri Lanka as rain is predicted after noon. If the game on Thursday would be washed out or if Netherlands find another win (Netherlands beat UAE in their first match) Sri Lanka's chances of making Super 12s becomes thin since our net run rate which is -2.750, is the worst after the day 1 of Group A.
There is a norm in cricket that "control what you can control". Keeping weather and other teams' win or lose aside, the remaining two matches are must-win games and Sri Lanka has to bring their A-game sooner rather than later.
What are the options we got?
One thing is sure. You don't get a good start every day, that's why you have to have good batters at number 3 and 4. Questions are raised by almost every fan over Danishka's presence in the team. His last four T20I scores are 1,0,1,0(vs Namibia). The writer thinks Charith Asalanka should be given a chance vs UAE.
In Namibia match, all the pacers went for runs and two spinners had a combined figure of 8 overs-50runs- 2 wickets. Some can argue that Dasun could've used Dhananjaya de Silva and himself with the ball. Hope the skipper will use his extra spin option wisely in coming matches.
Sri Lanka indeed had a major blow with the loss of Dilshan Madushanka. It is reported that Binura Fernando will fly to Australia as his replacement. This will make we are available a left-arm pacer and it is interesting how selectors will see our death over struggle. Until the last over of his spell, Pramod Madushan did no wrong, but he gave away 18 runs in the penultimate over & which helped Namibia to make over 160. Since Sri Lanka dropping Chameera is highly unluckily, Pramod's place might be in danger.
Whatever happened, those are just history. Now Dasun and Co. need to have a quick turnaround and replicate what they did in the Asia cup after that heavy loss over Afghanistan.
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