ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 mighty Australia will take over consistent Namibia at Antigua. Australia always plays more than their expectations in ICC tournaments and once again they have proved. Australia defeated Oman and later their arch-rivals England and now their eye would be on securing on Super8 berth by defeating Namibia. Namibia also showed their class by defeating Oman in their first game ahead of the super over but later they lost against Scotland still they have the potential to fight against a team like Australia.
Journey till now: Australia and Namibia
Australia proves why they are the strongest team in the world and so they are champions too, feels like they are made for ICC tournaments. Australia started their campaign with a bang after having a crushing defeat against West Indies in a warm-up match. They also crushed their ashes partner England and kept their dominance alive. Openers Travis Head and David Warner had a blast against England so no worries for openers but some issues can be raised in the middle order as Maxwell is not in form and IPL also had a disaster with the bat so it continues but to regain the form one innings is enough and rest we all know. Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis are consistent while Adam Zampa has seen in good touch.
Namibia has been consistently performing well enough compared to the last T20 World Cup. David Wiese has impressed with bat and bowls so he will be one of the X factors for the game. Skipper Gerhard Erasmus needs to find some solution to how they can restrict Australia from securing their berth in Super8, since Afghanistan, the USA, etc. have thrashed teams like Pakistan and New Zealand Namibia should also try some unique strategies and back some players who are out of form maybe they can rose to the occasion and can defeat Australia.
Stats:
- Although Australia has not played a full international against Namibia since 2003, Tim David faced them once during his Singapore days.
- David Wiese faced Australia four times in T20Is during his South Africa career
- The Scotland-Oman game was the first T20I at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium since 2021 – overall it has the second-lowest T20I batting strike rate of all grounds in the Caribbean.
Playing XI:
Match-ups:
Pitch Report:
The early signs from Antigua’s first match were that it could be a quick-scoring venue as Scotland raced to their target against Oman. The breeze can play a significant factor on this ground. The forecast is for cloudy conditions but no major threat of rain.
Also Read: ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Adam Zampa, Pat Cummins Deliver Dominant Win For Australia In WT20