NEW DELHI: Former Australia Test captain
Tim Paine
has stirred the pot with his recent comments on Australia's approach to their final group game against Scotland.
Paine advocates for a nuanced strategy that, while ensuring Australia's victory, aims to manipulate the match's outcome to prevent England from advancing to the Super Eights.
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"Absolutely they should (manipulate the result) and I'm not even joking.
I've spoken to people about this in the last few days. I'm dead serious," Paine told Sen Radio.
England's precarious position in Group B, compounded by a washout and a significant loss to Australia, has left them vulnerable. With Scotland currently second in the group and boasting a robust net run rate, England faces the uphill task of not only winning their remaining games but also relying on external factors, notably Australia's performance against Scotland, to progress.
Paine's suggestion does not involve Australia losing the match against Scotland. Instead, he proposes a calculated approach where Australia win but in a manner that closely manages the net run rate, thereby impacting England's chances of advancement.
"I'm not sure what the net run rate looks like, you don't have to lose the game, I think they can just let Scotland get close enough. Again, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, Scotland could have a day out. But say Scotland batted first and got to 140 and we chased it off 19.5 overs to make sure they don't suffer a big net run rate loss," Paine explained
"I think England have to win both of their games by about 50 runs to even get up towards Scotland's net run rate. So, it's certainly plausible that you can win the game (but still ensure England don't progress)," he added.
Josh Hazlewood
echoed the sentiment of strategic gameplay, acknowledging the potential benefits of England's early exit from the tournament.
Hazlewood pointed out the challenges Australia has faced against England in T20 cricket, saying, "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."
"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," added the Australian pacer.
(Inputs from PTI)
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