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Australia fell short of players before T20 World Cup, selectors came to play matches


port of Spain. Before the ICC T20 World Cup, all the teams are giving the final touches to their preparations by playing practice matches. In this series, the Australian team came out to play against Namibia. Something happened in this match which was very surprising. Due to the shortage of players, Australia had to field four members of the support staff including the chief selector and the head coach in the T20 World Cup warm-up match against Namibia, but despite this the team registered an easy victory.

Australia won by seven wickets with the help of David Warner’s unbeaten 54 off 21 balls and effective bowling by fit Josh Hazlewood (2 wickets for 5 runs) and leg-spinner Adam Zampa (3 wickets for 25 runs). The team achieved Namibia’s target of 119 runs with 10 overs to spare. After participating in the two-month long IPL, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Mitchell Starc, Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell have been given a break in their home country. In such a situation, chief selector and former captain George Bailey and head coach Andrew McDonald had to come on the field for fielding.

Apart from Bailey and McDonald, 46-year-old fielding coach Andre Borovech also had to come out to field. Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and decided to bowl first. When Marsh and Hazelwood returned to the dressing room, McDonald and 49-year-old batting coach Brad Hodge had to come out to field. Hazelwood, who played his/her first match in three months, looked in good rhythm.

Hazelwood told ‘cricket.com.au’ after the match on Tuesday, “Of course we didn’t have the full players but probably some of the players who played needed to play the match after a big break.” Australia’s Test and ODI captain Cummins, Head and Starc were part of the IPL final in Chennai on Sunday.

first published : May 29, 2024, 05:02 PM IST

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