In the T20 World Cup warm-up match against Namibia, Australia had only nine players and four members of support staff including the chief selector and head coach.
Despite the unusual circumstances, Australia emerged victorious by seven wickets, thanks to impressive performances from David Warner (54 not out off 21 balls), a fit-again Josh Hazlewood (2/5), and leg-spinner Adam Zampa (3/25). They successfully chased down Namibia’s total of 119 with 10 overs to spare.
This led to certain key players such as Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell who were given an extended break due their participation in IPL which lasted for two months. George Bailey, former captain who is now acting as the chief selector,and Andrew McDonald who is the head coach were among those who had to take part in this game since some of their support staff took field. Mitchell Marsh’s decision to bowl against Namibia saw Andre Borovec, a fielding coach aged 46 join him on the pitch as well.
As a result McDonald and batting coach Brad Hodge stepped into fill these positions on the field when Marsh and Hazlewood returned to dressing room respectively.
Hazlewood looked good having played his first game in three months. “Obviously we didn’t have everyone available but I thought they all did well considering there was quite a few of us coming off quite a few weeks without cricket,” Hazlewood said after Tuesday’s win on cricket.com.au website. “A lot of bowlers were freshening up for pretty long time that is very strange for our setup but it is always nice getting out there playing.”
He added:”The wicket looked tough early on a little bit slow probably what we are going to expect here up in West Indies so yeah nice hit out got a result and we move onto West Indies in few days.”
It should be noted that Australia’s Test and ODI captain Cummins, Head and Starc were part of the IPL final in Chennai on Sunday.
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