Toss Ireland chose to bat vs Namibia
Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie decided to bat first in the high-stakes Men's T20 World Cup Group A knockout game against Namibia. The winner of the fixture is guaranteed to join Sri Lanka in the Super 12s while the loser is set to join Netherlands on the way out. In addition, all Super 12 teams will get automatic qualification for the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Ireland went in unchanged, but Namibia picked Pikky Ya France in place of Stephan Baard, wanting an additional spinner in their side.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus said they would have bowled first anyway, as the Sharjah surface in use is a new pitch for them and they want to see how Ireland go and then apply the inputs gathered to their batting.
Ireland have not qualified for the main draw of a T20 World Cup since 2012. Namibia, ranked four places below Ireland, meanwhile, made history at this tournament with their victory over Netherlands, their first win at a World Cup. These two teams have only played each other once in competitive fixtures before.
Ireland: 1 Paul Stirling, 2 Kevin O'Brien, 3 Andy Balbirnie (capt), 4 Gareth Delany, 5 Curtis Campher, 6 Harry Tector, 7 Neil Rock (wk), 8 Simi Singh, 9 Mark Adair, 10 Josh Little, 11 Craig Young
Namibia: 1 Zane Green (wk), 2 Craig Williams, 3 Gerhard Erasmus (capt), 4 David Wiese, 5 JJ Smit, 6 Jan Frylinck, 7 Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 8 Pikky Ya France, 9 Ruben Trumpelmann, 10 Michael van Lingen, 11 Bernard Scholtz
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