Trumpelmann, Frylinck set up Namibia's win against South Africa

Namibia 163 for 9 (Frylinck 60, Steenkamp 41, Subrayen 3-32) beat South Africa 145 for 9 (Brevis 75, Trumpelmann 3-24, Smit 3-31) by 18 runs

Namibia have kept their unbeaten record against South Africa (albeit limited to two T20Is) intact, opening their home tri-series with a win over their much-vaunted neighbours. South Africa are not fielding a first-choice side but Namibia won't care which XI players had the Protea on the badge as they defended 163 in a thrilling first match of the seven-game series.

The advantage ebbed and flowed in front of a festive Friday afternoon crowd in Windhoek where Namibia were put in to bat and were off to a bright start. Jan Frylinck and Louren Steenkamp put on 57 in the powerplay and 84 for the first wicket, inside 10 overs to lay an impressive platform. When Steenkamp was bowled by South Africa's stand-in captain Bjorn Fortuin, Namibia unravelled. They lost nine wickets for 79 runs in the second half of their innings and may have wondered if they left some runs out there.

All South Africa's bowlers were among the wickets, apart from Lutho Sipamla. He had to abandon his participation in the match midway through his second over after hurting his left hamstring and will be assessed by their medical team. Jordan Hermann, who completed Sipamla's over, also didn't pick up any wickets but the spin trio of Prenelan Subrayen, Fortuin and Dewald Brevis shared six wickets between them for 81 runs.

Ruben Trumpelmann and JJ Smit left those figures in the dust as they collectively claimed six for 55 between them but the pressure started when young Jack Brassell and Max Heingo made important breakthroughs as Gerhard Erasmus managed his attack well. There was only one batter in South Africa's top six who gave a good account of themselves. Dewald Brevis' 75 off 50 kept South Africa in it but the only support came from debutant Duan Jansen, who scored 25*.

At least, South Africans did not have to see their side's sorry showing. The streaming feed to the pay television network SuperSport was patchy at the start and cut off two hours into the game. South Africa will play Zimbabwe on Saturday as they look to put their first points on the board.

Frylinck gets a second chance and grabs it with both hands

Namibia opted for experience at the top with Frylinck and Louren Steenkamp and they took the fight to their neighbours early on. Frylinck hit back-to-back boundaries off the last two balls of Duan Jansen's opening over and one off the next ball he faced from Nqobani Mokoena to get the home side going. But his fun should have ended there, on 13. In the third over, the bat turned in his hand as he tried to hit Jansen over extra cover but did not get enough distance on it. Jordan Hermann had his eye on the ball but a team-mate in his peripheral vision blindsided him and the ball bobbled out of his grasp. Frylinck did not need a second invitation. He reached his fifty with a straight six off Dewald Brevis and topped up with one more before he was caught at deep mid-wicket for 60.

South Africa strike back

Frylinck's dismissal opened the door for South Africa and their spinners burst through it. Prenelan Subrayen took over from Brevis, tossed one up and invited Jan-Nicol Loftie-Eaton to slog-sweep. The big-hitter obliged in intent but made no contact and was caught behind. In the next over, Fortuin had the better of his opposite number when Gerhard Erasmus swept him straight to deep backward square. Fortuin finished with 2 for 17 in his four overs. Subrayen then returned for his final over and started with a double strike. He beat Zane Green on the reverse sweep to get him out lbw and then took out JJ Smit's middle stump with a yorker. Subrayen's analysis read: 4-0-32-3. Namibia went from 116 for 1 to 133 for 5 and lost four wickets for 17 runs in 22 balls, which included a sequence of 10 dots.