PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD (AP) — Australia’s first Twenty20 World Cup warm-up game got off to a strange start Tuesday when the team could only field nine members instead of an 11-man squad for their game against Namibia, forcing a chief selector and coach. That stadium.
Australia won easily anyway at Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval. After restricting Namibia to 119-9 after the African team was sent out to bat, opener David Warner’s 54 led Australia to 123-3 in 10 overs to win by seven wickets.
When Australia captain Mitch Marsh started making the match numbers after winning the toss, selectors George Bailey and fielding coach Andre Borovec were on the field with unmarked shirts.
The Australians were still without six World Cup squad members – Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green. Following his Indian Premier League duties, he was given some time off in Australia.
Bailey, 41, is a former international cricketer and was one of Australia’s best fielders during his playing days. Borowec, 46, is a former wicketkeeper for Geelong in the Victorian Premier Cricket League.
Later, Cricket Australia reported that Bailey and Borowec joined batting coach Brad Hodge and head coach Andrew McDonald while Marsh and Josh Hazlewood spent time off the field.
Australia will also play briefly for the second and final warm-up game against the West Indies on Thursday at the same venue. None of the ICC warm-up matches are official T20 Internationals.
„Obviously, we don’t have our full quota of players, but the guys who have played, maybe some of us have had to come out of a big layoff,” Hazlewood told the Cricket Australia website. „I know a lot of bowlers are coming off a long break, which is very unusual in our system, but it’s good to get out there, playing is always different to training.”
Earlier on Tuesday, there were two T20I practice matches in England and Dallas, Texas were washed.
The The T20 World Cup begins Saturday and staged in the United States and the Caribbean.
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