Namibia have won 18 of their 22 T20Is, while Sri Lanka have enjoyed a stellar warm-up run ahead of their opener

The Sri Lanka of yore were legendary destroyers of associate sides. But if this team thinks Namibia is going to roll over for them, a quick glance at Namibia's record should be sobering enough. Of the 22 T20Is Namibia have completed, they have won 18. They have also won each of their last six matches. The caveat is that of all these games, only one - against Ireland in 2019 - was against a full-member nation. But following comfortable victories over the UAE, Scotland and Papua New Guinea over the past three weeks (all of whom are at the World Cup) they are not just at their first T20 World Cup to make up the numbers. They will be competitive, and aiming for a spot in the Super 12s.

Namibia's top order tends to pivot around Craig Williams and captain Gerhard Erasmus, but allrounder Johannes Smit has also been in excellent touch this year. Bernard Scholtz, the offspinner, is perhaps their leading bowling threat in turning conditions. Although Scholtz is not known to turn the ball substantially, he had been the leading wicket-taker in the T20 qualifier, with 15 wickets, along with an outstanding economy rate of 5.34. Somewhere in the middle of that line-up is also a more familiar name - David Wiese, the allrounder who played for South Africa in the 2016 T20 World Cup, and has now requalified for the neighbouring country.

Sri Lanka will feel confident going into the qualifiers. Oman gave them a scare in one of the matches those two teams played in the lead-up, but they were comfortable victors in the end. In the warm-ups, they squeezed past Bangladesh, and had little trouble against Papua New Guinea. There is a tinge of optimism to this campaign, as Sri Lanka feel they have raised their game over the past few months.

But it is worth mentioning that Sri Lanka were champions of the second-most-recent global T20 tournament, a little over seven years ago. No other side has made the final of this tournament more often. And yet they arrive at this World Cup not only having to qualify for the main draw, but with T20s easily the worst of their three formats. It has been a dramatic slip.