The Africans also played Sri Lanka first up in 2021, crashing by seven wickets, before beating the Netherlands and Ireland to qualify from the first round. They must first get past an experienced Namibia led by Gerhard Erasmus, who is hoping for more big performances from talisman David Wiese and paceman Ruben Trumpelmann, both of whom played key roles last year. “Qualifiers will really help because we will play in the conditions before the main tournament happens, so it will be good for us.” “The momentum is there and winning the Asia Cup really helps going ahead to the World Cup,” he said.

Later Sunday, the United Arab Emirates face the Netherlands, before two-time champions the West Indies, Scotland, Zimbabwe and Ireland join the fray in Hobart on Monday.ĭespite 2014 champions Sri Lanka failing to automatically qualify for the Super 12, skipper Dasun Shanaka believes they can go far after beating India and Pakistan on their way to winning the Asia Cup last month. Originally scheduled to take place in 2020 before being moved because of Covid, the eighth edition of the event begins with a double-header at the 36,000 capacity Kardinia Park outside Melbourne. It kicks off the global showpiece in Geelong against a Namibian team looking to spring another surprise after making the Super 12 stage on their tournament debut last year. 3 to click.Ī confident Sri Lanka opens the Twenty20 World Cup on Sunday fresh from being crowned Asian champion, but faces negotiating a tricky preliminary round to join the big guns in the main draw. Need the openers to come good and the No. When we are chasing 160, we need need some partnerships. We got a good team, it’s about the process. The plans should be simple, we need not do anything special.

Once we lose three wickets in the powerplay, we are usually out of the game. Didn’t bowl in the right areas and that’s a concern. With the limited resources, I don’t think there’s anyone else that could run such a tight ship.ĭasun Shanaka: The surface played really well, but we didn’t execute well with the ball. Credit goes to Pierre (de Bruyn) the way he has installed coaching to this team, one that’s a winning culture and one that sticks together. We understand the bigger picture as well. The opening day has been quite special but we want to kick on from here and qualify for the Super 12 stage. We’ve started a great win, but lot of work to do throughout this tournament still. Gerhard Erasmus: Incredible journey, last year was a special experience for us.

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