Australia look to cement Super Eight berth

Australia will be hoping to seal their Super Eight spot when they take on Namibia in the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup Group ‘B’ fixture at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, 
Antigua today.

Australia and Namibia have never met in a men’s T20 international however they did face each other in the warm-up match in Trinidad a fortnight ago.

Namibia batted first and made 119, but Australia chased it down after just 10 overs. David Warner and Tim David were in the runs while Hazlewood proved nearly impossible to play with the new ball.

Australia have never played a T20 at this ground, which was built for the 2007 ODI World Cup. Their last match at the Antiguan venue was the drawn second Test in 2008 while they also played a couple of ODIs there the year before. Namibia haven’t played a T20I here either.

Namibia (13) are currently the third-highest ranked African nation, behind South Africa (7) and Zimbabwe (12). Adam Zampa has now taken 96 T20I wickets; he needs four more to become the first Australian man to reach 100 in the format. Megan Schutt (136) and Ellyse Perry (126) have passed the mark in Women’s T20Is.

Of all the bowlers in the Aussie squad, Mitchell Marsh has the best record in T20s in the West Indies, after he took eight wickets at 11 apiece during the 2021 five-match series in the Caribbean. 
Left-arm quick Ruben Trumpelmann has been electric with the new ball this tournament, with three of his five wickets coming in the Powerplay.  

Namibia have showed plenty of signs that they belong at a global tournament, despite their modest world ranking of 14 in the format. 

Experienced duo Wiese and Trumpelmann delivered in the Super Over victory against Oman, signifying the country’s first win in the main stage of a T20 World Cup. They fell short against Scotland though, only posting 159 runs which the Scots chased down with nine balls to spare.

Australia played close to a perfect match in their last outing against England, posting a big total before shutting out a powerful batting line up. The manner of the victory certainly impressed Coach McDonald, who said it was exactly what the coaching staff had discussed.

The squads:

Australia: Mitchell Marsh (Captain), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner and Adam Zampa. 
Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (Captain), Zane Green, Michael Van Lingen, Dylan Leicher, Ruben Trumpelmann, Jack Brassell, Ben Shikongo, Tangeni Lungameni, Niko Davin, J. J. Smit, Jan Frylinck, J. P. Kotze, David Wiese, Bernard Scholtz, Malan Kruger and P. D. Blignaut. (Agencies)