Namibia elect to bowl first against England in 11-over clash
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Namibia have won the toss and decided to field first against defending champions England in a rain-reduced ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 fixture here on Friday.
PLAYING XIs
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Moeen Ali, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Reece Topley.
Reigning champions England were sent into bat by Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus after rain reduced their must-win T20 World Cup game in Antigua.
Anything other than a victory would see Jos Buttler's men knocked out, with Scotland joining already-qualified Australia in the second-round Super Eights before the two countries meet later Saturday in St Lucia.
England are currently two points behind Scotland in Group B but with a superior net run-rate that will be the tie-breaker if both teams finish level on points.
Title-holders England inflicted an eight-wicket thrashing of Oman on Thursday as they chased down a target of 48 in just 19 balls -- the largest win in T20 World Cup history in terms of balls remaining.
But the game with already-eliminated Namibia is England's last in a Group B where their opening match against Scotland ended in a washout before they suffered a convincing 36-run loss to Australia.
Even if England beat Namibia, they could still be knocked out should Scotland achieve a stunning upset win over Australia or if that game ends in a no-result.
England, in a game delayed by three hours, made two changes to the team that hammered Oman, with left-arm paceman Sam Curran and 'death' bowler Chris Jordan replacing express quick Mark Wood and spin-bowling all-rounder Will Jacks.