GEORGE DOBELL: Having bowled out Namibia for 72 in 17 overs, thanks largely to 4 for 12 from Adam Zampa, Australia rushed to victory in just 5.4 overs with Travis Head finishing unbeaten on 34 from 17 balls.
Antigua: Namibia 72, Australia 74-1 – Austrlia won by nine wickets
Australia have secured their place in the Super 8 phase of the T20 World Cup with a third successive victory in the group stages.
Despite resting key fast bowler Mitchell Starc, Australia achieved a crushing nine-wicket victory over Namibia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua with more than 14 overs to spare.
Having bowled out Namibia for 72 in 17 overs, they rushed to victory in just 5.4 overs with Travis Head finishing unbeaten on 34 from 17 balls and Mitch Marsh on 18 from nine balls.
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Adam Zampa took four wickets to help bowl Namibia out for just 72 in Antigua (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Namibia’s innings never gathered any momentum. Both openers sliced strokes to point off Josh Hazlewood before Jan Feylinck driove to mid-off. Namibia were only able to manage 17 for three from their six power-play overs.
Gerhard Erasmus was the only Namibia batter to progress beyond 10. While it took him 17 balls to get off the mark, he subsequently played some impressive strokes. At one stage, he took two fours off Ellis in a single over – clipping a full toss through mid-wicket before late-cutting one over the keeper – while at another, he pulled a Pat Cummins delivery for a six.
Ruben Trumpleman, with a slog-sweep, finally hit the first six of the innings in the 13th over when Adam Zampa served up a full-toss. But he perished to the next delivery when he pulled a short one to the mid-wicket boundary. A couple of balls later, Zampa produced a googly to bowl Bernard Scholotz to claim the 100th wicket of his T20I career. Zampa, with four wickets for 12 runs from his four overs, was the most successful of the bowlers.
Only Uganda, who were bowled out for 39 against West Indies and 58 against Afghanistan, have registered a lower total than Namibia’s effort here in this tournament. With 86 balls of the Australian innings left unused, it was (in terms of balls remaining) the largest margin of victory in the tournament to date.
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