ICC To Penalize Australia For 'Manipulating' Scotland Game To Send England Packing?

England, led by Jos Buttler, are on the brink of elimination from the T20 World Cup 2024. The 2022 champions could be ousted in the group stage if Scotland beats Australia in their final Group B match.

Josh Hazlewood said, "we've had some real struggles against England 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. It'll be interesting to see". (Code Sports). pic.twitter.com/sLweK9XZBK

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 12, 2024

England have yet to secure a win in their first two matches, having lost to AUS and shared points with Scotland due to a washout. Scotland, currently unbeaten with 5 points from 3 matches, are favorites to qualify second behind the Men in yellow thanks to their impressive net run rate (NRR) of +2.164.

The Men from down under hold a pivotal role in Group B as they face Scotland in their final group-stage game. If Australia loses to Scotland, the latter will top the group with 7 points. However, if Australia loses narrowly, Scotland will tie with England on 5 points, assuming England wins their remaining two group stage matches.

Aussie fast-bowler Josh Hazlewood, when asked about NRR calculations after their win against Namibia, hinted that Australia would be pleased to see England knocked out of the tournament, which would benefit Australia's interests.

Can ICC Reprimand Australia For Going Easy On Scotland?

Fans speculated from Hazlewood's statement that Australia might deliberately undermine England's campaign. Questions arose about potential ICC actions against Australia for such tactics.

"In this tournament you potentially come up against England at some stage again and, as you said, they're probably one of the top few teams on their day, and 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," Hazelwood said at the post-match press conference.

"But yeah, it'll be interesting to see. We've never really been in this position before as a team I don't think, so whether we have discussions or not, we'll just try and play it again the way we did tonight. Yeah, that'll be up to people, not me," he further added.

According to Article 2.11 of the ICC Code of Conduct, players and teams are prohibited from intentionally manipulating match results to gain a strategic advantage. This rule outlines the limitations and potential actions the ICC can take against any team found guilty of such behaviour.

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