After Australia captain Mitch Marsh won the toss, selection boss George Bailey and fielding coach Andre Borovec appeared on the field in unmarked jerseys to fill the gaps.
Australia’s first T20 World Cup warmup match against Namibia began in unusual circumstances on Tuesday, when the team could only field nine squad members instead of the required 11, requiring a top selector and coach to take the field.At Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval, the Australians triumphed handily. After holding Namibia to 119-9 after being called in to bat, Australia, spearheaded by opener David Warner’s 54 not out, struck 123-3 in 10 overs to win by seven wickets.
After Australia captain Mitch Marsh won the toss, selection boss George Bailey and fielding coach Andre Borovec took on the field with unmarked jerseys to make up the numbers.
Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green remained absent from Australia’s World Cup roster. They were granted some time off in Australia following their Indian Premier League duty.
Bailey, 41, is a former international cricketer who was regarded as one of Australia’s top fielders while playing. Borovec, 46, is a former wicketkeeper for Geelong in Victoria’s Premier Cricket League.
Later, Cricket Australia stated that Bailey and Borovec were joined by batting coach Brad Hodge and head coach Andrew McDonald while Marsh and Josh Hazlewood were off the field.
Hazlewood said to the Cricket Australia website, “Obviously, we didn’t have a full quota of players but the guys who played, probably a few of us needed to coming off a big layoff.” It’s fantastic to get out there because playing differs always from practicing, even if I know some of the bowlers were coming off a lengthy hiatus, which is really unusual in our system.
