Defending champions England are left with depending on arch-rivals Australia to qualify for the Super 8 round in the T20 World Cup 2024. Australia would need to beat Scotland by a specific margin to help England make it to the next round. Prior it that though the Brits will have to win both their matches against Oman and Namibia by big margins before hoping a favour from the Aussies.
However, Josh Hazlewood’s post-match comments after win over Namibia has caught the attention of eveyone. He hinted at deliberately manipulating the play in order to knock England out of the tournament. However, doing that would lead to ICC banning the captain Mitchell Marsh for two matches with immediate effect according to ICC Code of Conduct Article 2.11 deisgned to prevent manipulation of games.
“Inappropriate strategic or tactical reasons… such as when a team deliberately loses a pool match in an ICC Event in order to affect the standings of other teams in that ICC Event,” the rule reads. The same rule even applies for the manipulation of the net run-rate. Meanwhile, England head coach Matthew Mott has reacted to Hazlewood’s comments hoping that he would’ve said that in jest.
“I think I know Josh pretty well and I know his integrity. He has got a very good sense of humour and I am hoping it was very much tongue-in-cheek. I actually don’t think it is ever going to play out. Having grown up in Australia, and the will to win every game, I am sure they will come to the fore. I am very much hoping it was an offhand remark by a really good bloke who is having fun,” Mott said ahead of the game against Oman.
For the unversed, Englan’s net run-rate is -1.8 in group B points table and are at fourth place after two matches. Scotland are at the second place with five points after three matches with NRR of 2.164 thanks to their quick chase of 151 runs with 41 balls to spare against Oman.
For England to go past Scotland net run-rate, they will have to beat Oman and Namibia by a combined margin of 117 runs (or a similar margin while batting second) and then just hope that Australia don’t lose to Scotland. This will increase their hopes of qualifying but Namibia is certainly not a pushover team to lose by a big margin. Funny things have happened in cricket before and England will be hopeful of things going their way in the next few days.