“Historic day for us”: Gerhard Erasmus credits Namibia cricket team head coach Pierre de Bruyne after beating Sri Lanka in T20 World Cup 2022

Gerhard Erasmus credits Namibia cricket team head coach: The Namibian captain was all praises for their head coach.

Namibia registering a 55-run victory over Sri Lanka in ICC T20 World Cup 2022 opener is nothing short of a dream start for them in a world event. A rematch of these two teams’ first ICC T20 World Cup 2021 match witnessed Namibia taking apt revenge after almost a year.

Namibia, who had qualified for Super 12s in the last World Cup as well, put on display their sixth-biggest T20I victory (by runs) – biggest against a Test playing nation. For Sri Lanka, it is their 10th biggest T20I loss (by runs) – biggest against a non-Test playing nation.

Not a fluke or backed for outright luck by any means, Namibia dominated proceedings for most part of the match at the Simonds Stadium today.

Namibia make you beat them. They thrive on your mistakes. It makes them more powerful. They’re like a spellcheck AI system.

— Jarrod Kimber (@ajarrodkimber) October 16, 2022

A substandard first quarter of the match for Namibia was followed by a game-changing recovery where Jan Frylick (44) and JJ Smit (31*) put together a 34-ball 70-run seventh-wicket partnership before the former was dismissed on the last ball of the innings. Readers must note that Frylinck and Smit’s stand ended up becoming the ninth-highest seventh-wicket partnership in T20Is.

Gerhard Erasmus credits Namibia cricket team head coach Pierre de Bruyne after beating Sri Lanka

Ecstatic by the victory as he should have been, Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus proudly touted October 16, 2022, as a “historic day” for the Namibian cricket team.

“Though there’s still a lot of work to do for the rest of the tournament. But, yeah, it’s been a historic day for us,” Erasmus told the broadcaster during the post-match presentation ceremony.

Not shying away from distributing credit, Erasmus wholeheartedly credited head coach Pierre de Bruyne for instilling a “winning culture” within this team.

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“He [Pierre de Bruyne] turned this whole ship around for us in 2019. He’s instilled a culture in this team. With the limited resources that we have I guess you really have to run a tight ship and I don’t think there’s anyone else who could run such tight ship like he has done over last three years. And days like this are payback for his effort,” Erasmus added.

de Bruyne, a former South African domestic cricketer, has managed to rope in brothers and former South African cricketers Albie Morkel and Morne Morkel as part of Namibia’s support staff for this World Cup.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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