2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Preview & Betting Tips
Australia vs Namibia
Antigua, Wednesday 12th June, 10:30am AEST
Australia
Predicted XI: David Warner, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood
Australia produced a clinical performance against England in Barbados to make it two wins from as many games to begin the tournament. David Warner (39 off 16) and Travis Head (34 off 18) got Australia off to a flyer in the powerplay, as the Aussies finished on 7/201 a score that was well over par on such a slow pitch.
Like the Aussies, England got off to a hit start being 0/73 after 7 overs, however the Australians adapted to the conditions by taking pace off the ball and bowling into the wicket. Adam Zampa (2/23) and Pat Cummins (2/28) led the way as Australia strangled the defending champions to restrict them to 6/165.
Australia’s bowling attack has been outstanding across the opening two games of the tournament, with Zampa leading the way with 4 wickets at an average of 13, and an economy rate of 6.50. Marcus Stonis has also taken 4 wickets bowling hard lengths during the middle overs, while Josh Hazlewood has only taken one wicket but has played a crucial role with an economy rate of just 6.12.
Namibia
Predicted XI: JP Kotze, Niko Davin, Jan Frylinck, Gerhard Erasmus, Malan Kruger, Zane Green, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann, JJ Smit, Bernard Scholtz, Tangeni Lungameni
Namibia missed a golden opportunity to go top of Group B with poor middle and death over bowling costing them in a 5 wicket defeat to Scotland. Namibia had Scotland 4/73 after 11 overs, with Scotland requiring 83 runs off the last 9 overs on a tough batting wicket in Barbados.
Namibia looked in the box seat with Scotland still requiring 40 off the final 4 overs, however David Wiese went for 19 runs in the 17th over as the game tilted completely in Scotland’s favour, as they finished the game with nine balls to spare. Scotland’s thumping win over Oman now leaves Namibia three points and a significant margin on net run rate behind Scotland.
One positive Namibia will take out of the victory was a considerably improved performance with the bat from their opening game against Oman. Captain Gerhard Erasmus led the way with 52 off 31, while opener Nike Davin laid a platform for the middle order with a quick fire 20 off 12.
Match Prediction
There have only been 13 T20 Internationals played at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, with Australia and Namibia never playing at the venue. Australia and Namibia have never played against each other in a T20I fixture, so there is plenty of unknown territory for both teams. Oman and Scotland’s game on Sunday morning was the first game of this tournament played in Antigua as Scotland chased down Namibia’s 7/150 in just 13 overs.
Australia are starting to hit a purple patch in T20 cricket, with six wins from their last seven matches. The side knows their method and the fact that they’ve won two games in convincing fashion batting first and batting second from their opening two games, will hold them in good stead for whatever is thrown up on Wednesday morning. This will be another convincing win for Australia, like the Aussies opening game there isn’t much value in this clash, so check we'll be heading to the player props for our best bet again.
Adam Zampa continues to get the job in white ball cricket for Australia, and has had an outstanding start to the tournament with figures of 2/28 and 2/24 to start the World Cup. Zampa has taken 9 wickets across his last four T20I’s and was the leading or equal leading wicket taker in three of those four games.
Adam Zampa Leading Australian Wicket Taker
$4 (1 Unit)
