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Australia's head coach Andrew McDonald has revealed that they will play their strongest XI for the T20 World Cup 2024 fixture against Namibia on Tuesday (June 11). The former all-rounder asserted that they were not looking at England's position on the Group B points table.
With two victories from their first two matches in the tournament, Australia have virtually sealed qualification to the Super 8 stage. Mitchell Marsh and Co. defeated Oman and defending champions England and will grab a Super 8 berth if they beat Namibia.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, McDonald recalled how Australia were in a similar position to England's in the 2022 edition. However, the 2021 World T20 champions are only thinking about their fortunes.
As quoted by cricket.com.au, the 43-year-old said:
"We'll play our strongest XI for the opposition and the conditions, and where players are at as well. Not really, not really focused on England and where they're at. England clearly have got their own work to do in their next couple of games. We were put in a similar position at the last World Cup where we had to chase net run-rate, it's always difficult, you're always depending on other results. It's not a nice situation to be in, but that's for them to work through."
The game against England saw the tournament's highest score thus far as Australia piled on 201/7. Despite a strong start by the defending champions, they fell 36 runs short.
"We don't want to look too much further ahead at this stage" - Andrew McDonald
During the same conversation, McDonald declared that Australia could potentially try out their fringe players if and when their qualification was confirmed. He added:
We've got a short turnaround for the England game into this one, there's travel involved, so it's taking all that in. After we've firmed up qualification we can start to look at that potential (to rotate the squad) if (we) feel like it's necessary. We know if we win this one, we get the 'Q' next to our names, so we don't want to look too much further ahead at this stage."
Namibia beat Oman in a Super Over but lost to Scotland in their next match; they currently sit in third position on the points table.
