T20 World Cup 2022, Day 1 Stats Round-up: Namibia’s fifth win against a full-member, Bas de Leede’s best figures in T20Is, and other stats

The eighth edition of the T20 World Cup kicked off with a bang as Namibia stunned the Asia Cup champions Sri Lanka, defeating them by a big margin of 55 runs in the tournament-opener in Geelong. Jan Frylinck and JJ Smit’s knocks of 44 and 31 respectively helped the Namibians in posting a competitive total of 163/7 in 20 overs before Sri Lanka got bundled out for just 108 courtesy of a solid bowling performance from Gerhard Erasmus’ men.

Skipper Dasun Shanaka won the toss and Sri Lanka opted to field first. Openers Michael van Lingen and Divan la Cock got dismissed for single-digit scores while Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Stephan Baard, and captain Erasmus lost their wickets in the twenties each. At 93/6, Frylinck and Smit stitched a 70-run partnership to take their side to a total of above 160. In reply, the Sri Lankan openers Pathum Nissanka and Kusal Mendis went cheaply for just nine and six respectively. Danushka Gunathilaka’s horror run in the format continued as he bagged a golden duck. Skipper Shanaka top-scored for his side with his innings of 29 off 23.

Veteran David Wiese bowled a terrific spell of 2/16 while Bernard Scholtz also chipped in with his performance of 2/18. The Lankan chase never really got going as they lost wickets at regular intervals. In the end, the spirited Namibian team shocked the sub-continent side with a statement victory in the opening match. Frylinck registered figures of 2/26 grabbed the Player of the Match award for an all-round show.

Talking about the UAE and Netherlands game, skipper Chundangapoyil Rizwan won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Muhammad Waseem top-scored for his team with 41 off 47. No other batter even crossed the 20-run mark with Bas de Leede registering his best bowling figures of 3/19 in three overs in T20Is. Fred Klaassen also supported him well to pick two scalps for just 13 runs in four overs.

During the chase, the Dutch side made lives difficult for themselves as the match turned out to be a low-scoring thriller and went on till the final over with the Netherlands needing six off six. Captain Scott Edwards kept his cool and remained unbeaten on 16 off 19 to guide his side to a three-wicket win. 

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Matches in Group A between Sri Lanka and Namibia, United Arab Emirates and Netherlands in T20 WC 2022:

2 – Danushka Gunathilaka has managed to amass only two runs in the last four T20I innings. His scores read as 1, 0, 1, 0.

108 – Sri Lanka registered their lowest total against an Associate country in T20Is. Their previous lowest was 129/8 against UAE in Mirpur in 2016.

55 – Namibia scripted the third-biggest win in terms of runs (55) for an Associate team against a Full-member team in T20Is. Afghanistan occupies the top two positions for winning by a margin of 81 and 59 runs, both against Zimbabwe in 2016.

5 – Namibia recorded just their fifth victory against a Test-playing nation in T20 internationals. Previously, they won a match against Ireland in 2021 and three against Zimbabwe this year.

10.81 – Gunathilaka has the second-lowest average by a batter (position one-seven) with a minimum of ten innings played in 2022. Pakistan’s Asif Ali is on the top of the unwanted list with an average of just 10.00.

3/19 – Bas de Leede registered his best bowling figures of 3/19 in T20Is. His previous best of 2/11 came against Uganda in Bulawayo this year.

16y 335d – Aayan Afzal Khan became the youngest player (16y 335d) to appear in a T20 World Cup match. Previously, Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir held the record for playing at the age of 17y 55d against England in the 2009 edition.

4 – de Leede equaled Ryan ten Doeschate and Roelof van der Merwe at the second spot for winning the most POTM awards for Netherlands in T20Is. Mudassar Bukhari tops the list for winning it five times.

1001 – Muhammad Waseem completed the landmark of 1000 runs in international cricket.

1011 – de Leede also achieved the milestone of 1000 runs in international cricket.

50 – Waseem also reached 50 fours in T20 international matches.

506 – Vritya Aravind completed 500 runs in T20I cricket.