Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood understands that England’s chances of qualifying for the Super 8 stage of the T20 World Cup 2024 are heavily reliant on the outcome of their game against Scotland.
Hazlewood would not rule out the prospect of Australia playing Scotland in such a way that England is knocked out of the tournament.
England has only one point, but with games against Oman and Namibia remaining, they could enjoy their chances of securing four points and bringing them level with Scotland. Even if Scotland loses to Australia, they will need a higher net run rate.
Speaking to the media after the win against Namibia, Josh Hazlewood discussed England’s threat if they advance to the knockout stages and how the defending champions being knocked out benefits the other teams.
“In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again and they’re probably one of the top few teams on their day. We’ve had some real struggles against them in T20 cricket. So if we can get them out of the tournament, that’s in our best interest as well as probably everyone else,” he said.
Such a situation would bring back memories of Australia’s attempt to game the system against the West Indies in the 1999 ODI World Cup by batting slowly in order to collect additional points for the Super Sixes.
“First World Cup I’ve played that’s set up this way”- Josh Hazlewood on teams not taking group stage points to the next round
With run rates not carrying over to the Super Eights in this event, Australia’s hopes would not suffer if they let up on the gas. On that point, Hazlewood admitted that he felt it strange that no benefits were derived from the group stage appearances.
“It’s a little bit strange that it doesn’t go through the tournament. This is probably the first T20 World Cup I’ve played that’s set up this way, or the first World Cup in general that’s set up this way, so it’s a little bit different. I think the work that you do in the round games and if you go through undefeated and have a good net run-rate, doesn’t really account for much once you’re in the Super Eights. So, yeah, it’s a strange one but that’s how it is,” Hazlewood added.
The Aussies have qualified for the Super 8 stage with three wins from their three games and could afford to rest a few of their main players against Scotland on June 16.
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