Unchanged Ireland opt to bat in must-win clash; Namibia bring in Pikky Ya France

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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 from Group A

Gerhard Erasmus and David Wiese will be key to Namibia’s fortunes against Ireland  

Toss Ireland chose to bat vs Namibia

Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie decided to bat first in the high-stakes 2021 T20 World Cup Group A knockout against Namibia, who picked Pikky Ya France for Stephan Baard, wanting an additional spinner in their side. Ireland went unchanged in the must-win face-off.
Namibia captain Gerhard Erasmus said they would have bowled first as the Sharjah surface in use on Friday was a new pitch for them and they wanted to see how Ireland go and then apply the inputs gathered while batting.

The winner of the fixture is guaranteed to join Sri Lanka in the Super 12s while the loser 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 have not qualified for the main draw of a T20 World Cup since 2012, and have been particularly poor in the shortest format. Namibia, ranked seven places below Ireland, meanwhile, made history at this tournament with their vctory over Netherlands, their first win at a World Cup. These two teams have only played the other once in competitive fixtures before.

Ireland XI: 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 XI: 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

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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