Chief Selector and Fielding coach become Substitute fielders for Australia in T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up game against Namibia
Australia had just nine players available for the match as a number of players have been given a break after their IPL 2024 commitments.
Strange things have happened in cricket before and another strange incident happened during the T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up game between Australia and Namibia at Queen's Park Oval. Australia had just nine players available for the game as the some of the players were unavailable due to their IPL commitments.
The IPL 2024 finished on May 26 and several key players of Australia's T20 World Cup squad including Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Travis Head were part of the final. A number of players, including these players, are yet to join the squad as they were given a short break after their campaign ended in IPL 2024.
George Bailey and Andre Borovec completed Australia's Playing XI
As a result, Australia were forced to field their chief selector George Bailey and fielding coach Andre Borovec to complete their Playing XI for the match. Brad Hodge and head coach Andrew McDonald were named as the substitute fielders for the match.
Despite the shortage of players, Australia managed to thrash Namibia by 7 wickets. After choosing to field first, Australian quicks were right on the money as Josh Hazlewood picked out Namibian openers in his first spell. The Australian bowlers didn't allow the batters to settle and kept picking up wickets at regular intervals.
Legspinner Adam Zampa bowled a fantastic spell in the middle overs to finish with 3-25 in 4 overs. Suprisingly, Tim David completed his quota of 4 overs and finished with 1-39. Fast bowler Nathan Ellis also picked up a wicket while left-arm spinner Ashton Agar went wicketless. Hazlewood bowled an excellent spell on his return to pick up 2-5 in 4 overs as Namibia were reduced to a below par 119-9 in 20 overs. For Namibia, wicketkeeper Zane Green scored 38 off 30 balls but none of the other batters could stay at the crease for long.
Chasing 120 to win, Mitchell Marsh and David Warner gave Australia a blazing start as the duo collected 39 runs in first 3 overs before Marsh was run out. But David Warner held the innings at one end and took his team home comfortably in the end. Warner finished with 54 off just 21 balls. Tim David and Matthew Wade also made brief contributions with the bat.
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Australia will play its next warm-up game against West Indies at Port of Spain while Namibia will be up against Papua New Guinea at Tarouba on May 31
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