In preparation for the commencement of their 2024 T20 World Cup campaign, Australia has finally assembled their whole squad in Barbados. After participating in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Glenn Maxwell had to make a last-minute addition to the team as they temporarily returned to Australia. Pacers Cummins and Starc played in the championship game for KKR and SRH, respectively, with the latter team becoming victorious in the Eliminator, while Maxwell's RCB were eliminated.
Australia's campaign begins on Wednesday (Thursday IST) when they play Oman. Following the IPL final in Chennai, Pat Cummins, the skipper of SRH that lost, had gone home for a short while. The Australian Test skipper then spent two days travelling from Sydney to the Caribbean, according to cricket.com.au. His wife Becky also mentioned that some of Cummins's luggage was misplaced during the trip. It was also stated that Cummins found the missing objects later on.
Following the IPL, Starc and Maxwell had also gone back to Australia. On their way to Barbados, the two had to stay one night in Los Angeles and one more night in Miami.
That followed Marcus Stoinis' exclusion from last week's warm-up match against the West Indies in Trinidad due to his cricket kit not showing up on the island. Because of the logistical issues, Australia was left with only nine players available for their warm-up matches. These repercussions were seen during the match. Despite competing in the IPL playoffs, Cameron Green (RCB) and Travis Head (SRH) were already in Barbados with the rest of the team.
Head coach Andrew McDonald and chief selector and former captain George Bailey were two of the support personnel who had to play in place of the absent players against Namibia on Tuesday. In addition to Bailey, 46-year-old Andre Borovec was fielded when captain Mitchell Marsh decided to bowl against Namibia. McDonald and 49-year-old Brad Hodge, the batting coach, had to take the field after Marsh and Hazlewood went back to the locker room.