- England must beat Oman and Namibia to have any chance of the Super Eights
- But, England’s last game takes place before Scotland face Australia in St Lucia
- This means both teams will know what margin of result would knock England out
As if it wasn’t clear that the T20 World Cup has been blighted by a structure that hands the advantage to the teams contesting the final group match, Australian Josh Hazlewood’s careless comments about gaming the system to knock out England confirmed it.
Assuming Jos Buttler’s team beat Oman on Thursday, then Namibia on Saturday, they will be watching like hawks to see if Australia can see off Scotland convincingly enough a few hours later in St Lucia to ensure the Scots’ net run-rate ends up inferior to England’s.
Even a narrow defeat for Scotland may be enough to take them through to the Super Eights at England’s expense, which would leave managing director Rob Key with little option but to sack either coach Matthew Mott or captain Jos Buttler – or both.
The scope for subterfuge hardly needs spelling out. Indeed, the ICC’s own code of conduct outlaws ‘the inappropriate manipulation of a net run-rate’, with punishment extending to a two-game ban for any captain whose team choose that route.
It is a question of ethics, perhaps, rather than corruption, but it is a serious issue nonetheless. By drawing attention to a set of circumstances the Australians would have been better off leaving unaddressed, Hazlewood has simply exposed the amateurishness of the schedule.
Was he joking as he outlined a scenario that could bring the game into disrepute? If so, he hid it well.
Speaking after Australia’s nine-wicket thrashing of Namibia in Antigua on Tuesday night, he was asked whether it was in his team’s interests to make things as difficult as possible for England.
He replied: ‘Yeah, I think so. In this tournament you potentially come up against England at some stage again, and they’re 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’s.’
Asked how this might play out, he said: ‘Not too sure really. Whether you get close and just knock it around and drag it out. There’s a few options there.’
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Should Australia slow down in pursuit of a target on Saturday, or bring on their part-time bowlers if Scotland are struggling in a chase of their own, ICC match referee Jeff Crowe will face a big call.
Mott, who used to coach Hazlewood at New South Wales, might have used his press conference on Wednesday to put pressure on Crowe. But the strongest he managed was to say that, faced with similar circumstances, England would not take their foot off the gas: ‘No, not at all. Normally at these tournaments you want to get your best side out there playing their best cricket and take that momentum into the next game.’
Mainly, though, he tried to play down the remarks, insisting he had never known an Australian team to operate at anything other than full throttle.
In that case, he can’t have been watching in 1999, when Steve Waugh’s side slowed down in pursuit of a tiny target against West Indies at Old Trafford because they wanted to improve their opponents’ net run-rate. Back then, teams carried through points to the next phase only against fellow qualifiers. Since Australia had already lost to New Zealand, it was in their interest to help West Indies overtake the New Zealanders on net run-rate.
To jeers from spectators, Waugh made 19 off 73 balls and Michael Bevan 20 off 69, as Australia crawled to a target of 111 in 40.4 overs, though New Zealand qualified anyway.
Football dealt with this issue after the ‘Disgrace of Gijon’ at the 1982 World Cup, when West Germany and Austria cooked up a 1-0 win for the Germans, allowing both through at the expense of Algeria, who had played their final game the day before.
The last two group matches at major football tournaments now take place simultaneously. And while the presence of five teams in each group at this World Cup makes that impossible, the next-best scenario – with four of the five playing at the same time – would reduce the chance of cooking the books.
The ICC argue this would make little sense either logistically or from a broadcast perspective, with the lion’s share of cricket’s money coming from TV deals. Yet that hasn’t stopped matches overlapping at this World Cup, nor should it prevent games in the same group taking place in different cities. Sporting integrity ought to be the first principle.
England have it in their power to avert any of this. If they beat Oman and Namibia by total of about 120 runs, or an aggregate of roughly 12 overs to spare, Scotland’s only way of qualifying would be to beat Australia, who haven’t lost to an associate side at any World Cup since 1983. Funnier things have happened, but not many.
Probable teams England vs Oman
England: 1 Phil Salt, 2 Jos Buttler (capt, wkt), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Jonny Bairstow, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Moeen Ali, 7 Liam Livingstone, 8 Chris Jordan, 9 Jofra Archer, 10 Adil Rashid, 11 Reece Topley.
Oman: 1 Pratik Athavale (wkt), 2 Naseem Khushi, 3 Aqib Ilyas (capt), 4 Zeeshan Maqsood, 5 Khali Kail, 6 Ayaan Khan, 7 Mehran Khan, 8 Rafiullah, 9 Shakeel Ahmed, 10 Kaleemullah, 11 Bilal Khan