Now for England
Cricket
A ruthless Australia needed only 34 balls (5.4 overs) to race past the Eagles' 72 all-out.
Even though Australia handed Namibia a proper mauling by nine wickets in their ICC T20 World Cup Group B match, captain Gerhard Erasmus undoubtedly showed his class and fighting spirit with both bat.The Namibian Eagles walked onto the field as underdogs at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium at North Sound, Antigua, for their third match of the tournament.
Sent in to bat first by Aussie captain Mitchell Marsh, the Eagles batsmen were clearly over-awed by the historic first T20 World Cup meeting with the green-and-gold’s star-studded squad of worldbeaters in the sport.
Erasmus walked out to the pitch with his team already chest deep in the mud with three wickets down for just 15 runs in 4.1 overs.
The skipper kicked his heals in and after a slow start (0* off 16) scored a brilliant 36 off 43 deliveries in 12.1 overs with an eye-catching display of good shots (4x4 1x6).
JJ Smit, Zane Green, David Wiese, Ruben Trumpelmann and Bernard Scholtz briefly joined him in the middle, but were all dismissed cheaply.
Erasmus also bowled one over that cost six runs.
The opener Michael van Lingen (10) was the only other Eagles batsman to reach double digits, while Trumpelmann hit a memorable six over deep midwicket off a Adam Zampa full toss.
Wiese (1/15 in 1 over) took Namibia’s only wicket when David Warner got caught by Trumpelmann.
Spin wizard Adam Zampa became the first Aussie to reach the 100-wicket milestone in T20 internationals. He took four wickets for 12 runs in four overs, sending Green, Wiese, Trumpelmann and Scholtz packing.
Warner reached 20 off 8 balls, while Travis Head with 34 not out (17 b) and Mitchell Marsh with 18 not out (9 b) delivered the finishing blows.
Namibia's total against Australia is by far their lowest in T20Is. Their previous lowest was 96 all out against Sri Lanka in the 2021 T20 World Cup and versus Netherlands during the T20 World Cup Qualifier in 2019.
Namibia's 72 all out is also the lowest by any team against Australia in T20Is. Bangladesh's 73 all out at the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai was the previous lowest.
Australia (6 points) and South Africa (6) sealed their spots in the Super 8 phase from Group B and Group D respectively.
The Eagles have been eliminated, with their last match against England on Saturday from 19:00 (Namibian time).