Zampa Four-for Secures Australia’s Super Eight Spot in T20 World Cup
Australia’s dominance continues in the T20 World Cup, as they secured a place in the Super Eight with a commanding victory over Namibia.
Adam Zampa’s remarkable performance not only ensured Australia’s win but also marked him as the first Australian male cricketer to achieve 100 T20I wickets. The top order swiftly chased down the modest target of 73 in less than the powerplay.
Namibia 72 (Erasmus 36, Zampa 4-12) lost to Australia 74 for 1 (Head 34*) by nine wickets.
With a game remaining, Mitchell Marsh’s squad can now focus on the next round of the competition, however the outcome of their match against Scotland may have a significant impact on who advances to the Super Eight. The team has maintained its reputation as one of the most well-rounded and disciplined teams at the competition.
There was never a moment when it did not seem like Australia would win by a large margin once Josh Hazlewood struck in the third over, and they ensured that was the case. After not playing to his full potential following the England match, Mitchell Starc was rested. With a compressed schedule ahead, Nathan Ellis again fit in perfectly as all of Australia’s bowlers claimed wickets.
In Australia’s dash to the finish line, there were 86 balls left, the second-highest number in men’s Twenty20 Internationals. Australia’s tall quicks took full advantage of the increased bounce in the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium pitch. Michael van Lingen struck two early boundaries off Hazlewood and Marcus Stoinis, who took over for Starc by giving out the new ball. However, Nikolaas Davin was bowled out by Hazlewood after he struck the ball to backward point.
After three awkward deliveries in his opening over, Pat Cummins removed Jan Frylinck at mid-off. In his subsequent over, van Lingen became the second player to locate Glenn Maxwell at backward point after he was unable to keep the ball down. After giving up just one run in the sixth over, Stoinis ended the powerplay, leaving Namibia at 17 for 3, their captain Gerhard Erasmus without a run in ten deliveries.
Erasmus would suffer even more from missing the mark. He faced 17 balls by the time he swept Zampa for a single, and he forced a sardonic smile when his score finally increased. In men’s T20Is, it set a new record for being off the mark while ball-by-ball data was available.
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He reversed his fortunes, much to his enormous credit. Erasmus crushed Cummins through the off side of the next ball he faced, and with Namibia virtually out, he got eight runs off Hazlewood’s final over. Before the strongest of the lot, an enormous pull against Cummins falling on the terraces, two more boundaries came off Ellis. As Maxwell successfully stopped him from trying a repeat, he had transformed 0 off 16 into 36 off 43.
Although it wasn’t a turning point in Zampa’s career, this was yet another elegant performance in what is turning into a fantastic competition for him. He became the first Australian men’s player to reach the benchmark of 100 T20I wickets, surpassing Ellyse Perry and Megan Schutt, when he dismissed Bernard Scholtz with a gorgeous googly. Rubel Trumpelmann hit a full toss over deep midwicket to give up half of the runs he gave up in a spell that featured 17 dots. However, he fell on the following ball when he picked out Maxwell on the boundary.
David Warner was scrambling to get off the mark, and Travis Head might have been run out to the opening ball of Australia’s chase. Warner then soared to mid-off after he had sliced through 20 off eight balls, including four, four, and six against David Wiese.
Head moved his shoulders apart from Ben Shikongo and grabbed three of Trumpelmann’s limits in a row. As captain, Marsh was able to look back on a job well done as he concluded the game before the fielding limitations were lifted after taking 14 off three balls from Jack Brassell.
