Chris Silverwood’s Sri Lanka suffered an embarrassing 55-round loss to World No. 14 Namibia in the opening game of the T20 World Cup
- Sri Lanka lost the opening game of the Twenty20 World Cup to Namibia
- Chris Silverwood’s side were humbled after losing 55 runs in the excitement
- Namibia bowled beautifully when they were able to sack Sri Lanka for just 108
- England meets Pakistan in a final warm-up game before the tournament begins
The Twenty20 World Cup began yesterday with a big shock, just 11 months after the last – and former England manager Chris Silverwood was the victim.
Silverwood, who was appointed Sri Lanka coach six months ago, got off to a great start by winning the Asia T20 Cup last month. But he could only watch in despair as his side collapsed to 108 in Geelong to give Namibia, ranked 14th in the world, a surprise 55-round win in the first game of the World Cup group stage. Namibia’s only other win against a Test nation was against Ireland in 2021.
Elsewhere, the Netherlands won the second game in Group A, beating the United Arab Emirates by three wickets.
Chris Silverwood ‘can only watch in despair as his side collapse to 108 in Geelong’
But all eyes will be on the only team to have won the Twenty20 World Cup twice – the West Indies – who brought an inexperienced team to Australia after their old big guns failed to fire in the UAE last year. Scotland and Ireland are in Group B, alongside the West Indies and Zimbabwe. The top two teams in each group qualify for the Super 12, where Group A winners and Group B runners-up take on England. Meanwhile, the England side have been forced by the ICC to travel to Brisbane via Perth and Canberra to face Pakistan in a glorified training session before flying another five-and-a-half hours back to Perth ahead of the tournament opener against Afghanistan on Saturday.
England, however, feel prepared after seven games in Pakistan and three against Australia and have no desire to face Pakistan again today.
“To be honest we could do without it,” admitted England’s David Willey. “Then flying all the way back to Perth is a bit awkward. Realistically we could have done without it.’
Namibia are ranked 14th in the world but upset Sri Lanka in the opening game of the World Cup
