Last Updated on 4 months by Charbel Coorey

Australia sealed their qualification to the Super Eights stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup after they smashed Namibia by nine wickets with a huge 86 balls to spare in Antigua.

After winning the toss and opting to field, Australia never looked back. Three powerplay wickets sent the Namibians into freefall, eventually falling to 27/5 at the halfway mark. They then crumbled to 43/8, with skipper Gerhard Erasmus (36) eventually accounting for half of his team’s 72.

In response, Australia went about finishing things as quickly as possible. David Warner hit 20 off eight balls, while Travis Head (34* off 17 balls) and Mitchell Marsh (18* off 9 balls) remained unbeaten.

Qualification will allow Australia to rotate players against Scotland

Australia’s preparation was disjointed heading into this T20 World Cup, with a number of players featuring at the business end of the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL). The likes of Pat Cummins, Travis Head and Mitchell Starc joined the team just days before their tournament opener against Oman.

In fact, four members of the support staff, including selector George Bailey and coach Andrew McDonald were in the field as Australia named nine for their warm-up game against Namibia.

So, Australia will welcome some rotation for the final game against Scotland, especially given that no points are carried over to the Super Eights stage.

“It gets very busy after the game against Scotland, so we’ll manage people as best we can in the next few days,” said captain Mitchell Marsh in the post-match presentation.

Before the Namibia game, coach McDonald hinted at possibly resting players if they sealed qualification.

“[Against] Namibia, we need a win to guarantee ourselves a way through,” McDonald said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “And then after that, once we’ve firmed up that qualification, then we can start to look at that potential [to rest players] if we feel like it’s necessary… we know if we win this one, then we get the ‘Q’ next to our name.”

Australia face the possibility of playing five games in 10 days if they do reach the final. It is something McDonald and the coaching staff are aware off.

“We’ve got a short turnaround from the England game into this one [against Namibia]. There’s travel involved… we believe that whatever XI we put out there, it’s going to be very, very strong.

“Clearly there’s a great challenge there for teams to navigate through the Super Eights: game, travel, game, travel, game. It’s going to be difficult in how you manage your resources and make sure they are ready to perform with short turnarounds.

There’s a bit of an art to that. It may not necessarily be a locked XI through that period for teams. But they’re hypotheticals: we’ve got Namibia in front of us first.”

The news won’t be pleasing for England. They need a big win by Australia against Scotland, while they also need to beat Oman and Namibia by decent margins.

Australia’s possible XI vs Scotland

Australia could opt to rest Travis Head and Pat Cummins after their respective short turnarounds. Also, Mitchell Starc missed the Namibia due to calf soreness, so more time to recover would make sense.

Expect Josh Inglis, Cameron Green and Ashton Agar to have some game time.

Possible Playing XI: 1. Josh Inglis, 2. David Warner, 3. Mitchell Marsh (c), 4. Glenn Maxwell, 5. Cameron Green, 6. Matthew Wade (wk), 7. Tim David, 8. Ashton Agar, 9. Nathan Ellis, 10. Josh Hazlewood, 11. Adam Zampa