Group A of T20 World Cup got underway with Ireland sweeping aside Netherlands and Sri Lanka over powering Namibia to begin their campaign.
Campher hattrick.
Ireland got off to a perfect start against Netherlands with a wicket in the first over dismissing Ben Cooper. After losing another wicket Max O’ Dowd and Colin Ackerman took them to 50 runs after a solid stand, but what followed was a one man show by Curtis Campher.
The medium pacer took the wickets of Ackerman and star batsman Ryan ten Doeschate in successive balls. He then completed his hattrick by getting rid Scott Edwards. The show didn’t stop here with Campher getting 4 of 4 balls dismissing Roelof van der Merwe leaving Netherlands 51/6.
At the end Netherlands could only muster 106 runs on the board. Ireland had no problem chasing this target as experienced batter Paul Stirling guided the run chase with Gareth Delaney scoring 44 of just 29 balls to take his side closer to win. Ireland wrapped up the match with 29 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand.
Sri Lanka comprehensively beat Namibia.
Sri Lanka made short work of Namibia in their opening game. Spinners Maheesh Theekshana and Hasranga de Silva picking 5 wickets between them. Despite a partnership between Gerhard Erasmus and Craig Williams Namibia never quite threatened the Lankan side.
At the end the African side could score only 96 runs failing to complete their quota of overs.
Sri Lanka fumbled early on in the chase, with Namibia bowling tight and giving nothing away. Sri Lanka were soon down to 26/3 in 5.1 overs.
But the nerves were calmed by Aviskha Fernando and Bhanuka Rajapaksa who scored at a brisk rate. Fernando scored 30 of 28 balls while Rajapaksa ran away with 42 of 27 balls leading Sri Lanka to a 7 wicket win with 39 balls to spare to get their T20 World Cup campaign off to a winning start.