Australia defeats Namibia in a T20 World Cup warm-up match

When captain Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood were not on the field, batting coach Brad Hodge and head coach Andrew McDonald joined Australia selection boss Bailey and fielding coach Andre Borovec.

In the T20 World Cup warm-up match against Namibia, the nine-man Australian cricket squad had to rely on fielding coach Andre Borovec and selection chief George Bailey because three of their regular players were unavailable.

Following their IPL commitments, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green were all absent from the team.

With captain Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood off the field, Bailey and Borovec were joined by batting coach Brad Hodge and head coach Andrew McDonald. Bailey and Borovec even made catches for their group.

Despite all the obstacles, Namibia's score of 119/9 was decisively tracked down by the 2021 T20 World Cup winners with 10 overs remaining thanks to a rapid half-century from David Warner (54*).

“When it comes to these tournaments he always stands up as we know so I expect nothing but big things again from the Bull (Warner). He looked good out there on what looked a pretty tough wicket and he timed the ball pretty well from the outset. So we always expect big things from Davey,” seamer Josh Hazlewood said to Cricket Australia after the match.

With two wickets taken by Hazlewood and three by spinner Adam Zampa, Namibia's top scorer with 38 runs was Zane Green.

Australia's second warm-up match is on May 31 against the West Indies, and on June 6 against Oman, they will play their first official T20 World Cup encounter. They will next play their bitter rivals England in June, then play Namibia on June 12 before wrapping off their group stage schedule with a match against Scotland.