The Australian fielding coach took a catch off Josh Hazlewood’s bowling, the chairman of selectors George Bailey fielded at square-leg and the head coach came on when Hazlewood went off for a rest in the most bizarre T20 World Cup warm-up match ever.
Even 49-year-old batting consultant Brad Hodge took the field against Namibia along with Andre Borovec and Andrew McDonald as only nine of Australia’s 15-man squad were available for the game played in Trinidad just over a week out from the World Cup opener against Oman.
The quartet of supersubs were fully involved but didn’t have much to do as the Namibian batters struggled against the world class Aussie bowling attack with Hazlewood taking 2-5 from four overs and spin star Adam Zampa 3-25 as the rolled the African nation for just 119.
Having battled a hand issue throughout an underwhelming IPL, veteran Australian opener David Warner, who will make his international swan song at the World Cup, then made an unbeaten half century smashing a four to finish a seven-wicket romp to victory as the Aussies chased down the total inside 10 overs.
Warner opened with captain Mitch Marsh, in a positive sign he has overcome his hamstring issues, and the pair put on 39 runs in the opening three overs before the skipper was run out.
But then Warner went on a tear as he and Tim David, one of the nine Australian squad members on hand for the game, hit three sixes between them taking 18 runs off the seventh over to propel Australia to 2-79 in quick time, after Josh Inglis was dismissed for just five.
Warner, showing little signs of being troubled by the injury which plagued his time in India and opened the door for Jake Fraser-McGurk to shine for the Delhi Capitals, finished on 51 not out off 21 balls, hitting three sixes and six fours with David (23 runs off 16 balls) contributing to the cruisy win.
The Aussies were without the trio who played in last Sunday’s IPL final – Travis Head, Pat Cummins and player of the match Mitchell Starc – who won’t link up with the World Cup squad until nearer the end of the week in Barbados with time given to return to Australia before going to the Caribbean.
Cameron Green and Glenn Maxwell, who also had late finishes in India will be among the late arrivals with all-rounder Marcus Stoinis also not arriving until after the Namibia practice match.
A second and final warm-up match against the hosts, the West Indies, will take place on Friday, with numbers of available players for that match yet to be confirmed.
Content Source: www.perthnow.com.au