The Australian men’s cricket team entered the Super Eight stage of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 with a nine-wicket win over Namibia in their Group B match at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Wednesday.
Adam Zampa was the star performer for the Aussies picking up 4/12 in his four overs to bundle out Namibia for 72. Josh Hazlewood and Marcus Stoinis also chipped in with two wickets each.
Travis Head made light work of the chase, and remained unbeaten on 34 off 17. The southpaw hit five boundaries and two maximums as the Australian cricket team raced to 74/1 in just 5.4 overs.
“I thought it was a great performance from our bowling team. It was a beautiful wicket, a bit of swing out there. A professional performance,” Australia captain Mitchell Marsh said. “It’s great to qualify for the Super Eight.”
Opting to bowl first, Hazlewood picked up a wicket each of his second and third overs as Namibia were limping at 17/3 after the first six. Adam Zampa then ran through the Namibian lower order, reducing them to 43/8.
Namibia cricket captain Gerhard Erasmus waged a lone battle top-scoring in the game with 36 off 43 balls. But, Stoinis picked up two wickets in the 17th over to signal the end of Namibia’s innings.
Namibia were all out for 72 as Adam Zampa, eventually named the Player of the Match, shone with four wickets. Hazlewood and Stoinis finished with impressive figures of 2/18 and 2/9, respectively.
It was the lowest total a team had posted against Australia in a T20I, eclipsing the 73 by Bangladesh at the 2021 T20 World Cup.
In response, Australia looked in a hurry to finish the game off in quick time as David Warner raced to an eight-ball 20 before getting out. Head took over the mantle as he amassed 19 runs in the third over.
Australian captain Mitchell Marsh also joined the party, finishing off the match in style with a boundary. Marsh scored 18 from just nine balls and added 53 for the unbroken second wicket partnership with Travis Head.
Australia will next play their final group-stage match against Scotland on Sunday. The Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup starts on June 19.
Australia vs Namibia T20 World Cup 2024 brief scores: Namibia 72/10 in 17 overs (Gerhard Erasmus 36, Adam Zampa 4/12, Marcus Stoinis 2/9) lost to Australia 74/1 in 5.4 overs (Travis Head 34, David Warner 20, David Wiese 1/15) by nine wickets.