Australia called on their veteran support staff to make up the numbers as they flexed their muscles for a comfortable win against Namibia in their first T20 World Cup warm-up
Nine-man Australia blow out the cobwebs in first warm-up
David Warner put a poor Indian Premier League behind him to lead the way as a nine-man team outclassed Namibia in a warm-up match in Trinidad ahead of the T20 World Cup.
Despite at one stage having four 40-plus-year-old support staff members deployed as substitute fielders, the undermanned Australians kept the world's 14th-ranked men's T20I side to 9-119 at Queen's Park Oval.
It was a solid effort given they had been 6-50 but Warner (54 no from 21 balls) made light work of the chase en route to a seven-wicket win, showing no ill-effects of a hand injury he picked up during the recent IPL.
Warner was in fine touch, powering the Namibians over the rope three times and hit a further six boundaries as the Aussies got home with a full 10 overs to spare.
Mitch Marsh's men were shorthanded because only nine of their World Cup squad have arrived in Port of Spain.
The remaining six – Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green – have been granted them extra time at home following the conclusion of the IPL.
Selection chief George Bailey (the 41-year-old ex-Australia white-ball captain) and fielding coach Andre Borovec (a 46-year-old former wicketkeeper for Geelong in Victorian Premier Cricket) initially took to the field after captain Marsh won the toss and elected to bowl.
They were soon joined by batting coach Brad Hodge and head coach Andrew McDonald when Marsh and Josh Hazlewood spent time off the field.
All four equipped themselves well. Borovec and Bailey both hung on to simple catches, McDonald defied a sandy outfield to make an athletic sliding stop on the boundary, while Hodge moved well for a man who turns 50 in December.
Marsh, still on the mend from a hamstring injury, only fielded for half the Namibia innings. He opened the batting in Head's absence but was run-out after a mix-up with Warner, the pair ending up at the same end following a strong lbw shout off Tangeni Lungameni.
Tim David (23 off 16) bashed three fours and a six but became left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz's second victim after Josh Inglis earlier chopped on for five.
Hazlewood, playing his first match in nearly three months, showed few signs of rust as he sent down a suffocating spell.
Namibia failed to score off the first 19 balls he sent down, before he finished with remarkable figures of four overs, three maidens, two wickets for five runs.
Adam Zampa (3-25) and Nathan Ellis were also in good form despite a lack of recent match practice as wicketkeeper-batter Zane Green (38 off 30) took advantage of part-timer David (0-39) being forced to send down four overs given the lack of frontline alternatives.
"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," Hazlewood told cricket.com.au post-match.
"I know a number of the bowlers were coming off a long break which is pretty unusual in our system, but it's good to get out there, playing is always different to training.
"The wicket looked a little bit tough early, a little bit slow, which is probably what we're going to encounter here in the West Indies.
"So a nice hit out, got the result and we move onto the West Indies in a few days."
Australia will again be short-handed for their second and final warm-up game against West Indies on Thursday at the same venue, although they may regain Stoinis.
None of the ICC warm-up matches are official T20Is.
2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup
Australia's squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Australia's Group B fixtures
June 6: v Oman, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 10.30am AEST
June 9: v England, Kensington Oval, Barbados, 3am AEST
June 12: v Namibia, Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua, 10.30am AEST
June 16: v Scotland, Daren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia, 10.30am AEST
Super Eights, finals to follow if Australia qualify
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