Namibia vs Australia, Australia Field Coach and Selector Due To Player Shortage: It was far from a usual sight as Australia played their first ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up game against Namibia ahead of the start of the marquee event on June 2 (Sunday). With only nine players available to take the field for the Kangaroos, the team was forced to field a selector and a member of the coaching staff. Two other coaches took the field as substitutes in the match which Australia went on to win by 7 wickets at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad.
Namibia were kept down to 119/9 after which the 2021 T20 World Cup winners went on to chase down the total in 10 overs itself with opener David Warner scoring an unbeaten 54. At 37, this is likely to be Warner's last ICC event with him having already confirmed his Test and ODI retirement.
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However, Warner was not the oldest to take the field with members of the coaching staff and selector -all in their 40s, also taking the field for Australia. This is because six members named in their T20 World Cup 2024 squad are yet to join the team ahead of the marquee event including Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, both of whom were part of the IPL 2024 final on May 26 (Sunday).
That meant Australia's chief selector George Bailey (41) and fielding coach Andre Borovec (46) were on the field in unmarked shirts after captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and elected to field first. While Bailey is an ex-Australia captain himself, Borovec is an ex-wicketkeeper and plied his trade for Geelong in the Victorian Premier Cricket league. Batting coach Brad Hodge (49) and head coach Andrew McDonald (set to turn 43 next week) also took the field as substitutes.
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The Aussies are likely to remain short of players for their second warmup match against West Indies on Thursday (May 30) which will be played at the same venue. It is pertinent to note that the warm-up matches haven't been granted officials status by the ICC, allowing the flexibility of rules.