Another spectacular bowling performance by Adam Zampa helped Australia steamroll Namibia in the 24th match of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the tournament. Zampa bagged figures of 4/12 in his four-over spell and helped the Aussies reduce Namibia to just 72 before the Aussie batters made light work of the chase.
The game was all about Zampa, who bagged the Player of the Match (POTM) honour for his phenomenal spell of spin bowling. Zampa, 32, bagged the wickets of Zane Green, David Wiese, Ruben Trumplemann and Bernard Scholtz to claim yet another four-wicket haul of his T20I career and also became the first Australian player to snare 100 scalps in T20I cricket.
His mesmerising spin-bowling effort was too hot to handle for Namibia and they looked like a rabbit in headlights. Barring their skipper Gerhard Erasmus (36 off 43 balls) and opener Michael van Lingen (10 off as many deliveries), none of the other batters held the fort for the team.
Namibia got bowled out for 72 in 17 overs and ended up registering their lowest total in the history of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Their previous lowest was 96 which came against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi during the 2021 edition of the marquee tournament.
In reply, David Warner led the charge with the bat for the Kangaroos. The southpaw scored 20 off just eight deliveries at a strike rate of 250.00, including three fours and a maximum. His departure in the second over brought Mitchell Marsh to the crease and the Aussie skipper paired up with Travis Head to take his team home by nine wickets.
Marsh seemed fairly pleased by the performance and expressed happiness about Australia’s qualification into the Super Eight.
“I thought it was a great performance from our bowling team. It was a beautiful wicket, a bit of swing out there. A professional performance. Great to qualify for the Super Eight,” Marsh said during the post-match presentation.