NEWS
Follow UsWhile Australia have already qualified for the Super Eights from Group B, the battle is now between England and Scotland, with the Poms now dependent on the Aussies to help them get ahead.
According to the scenario, if Scotland beat Australia in St Lucia on June 15 (Saturday), they go through to the next round. Even if Australia win by a narrow margin, Scotland will most likely qualify due to their superior NRR.
Hence, when Josh Hazlewood was asked if Australia would ploy to play slow in order to keep England out of contention, the pacer suggested that keeping England out would be in their best interest. However, England Coach Matthew Mott stated that he wouldn’t doubt Hazlewood’s integrity and added that he perhaps said that as a joke.
“To be honest, I was informed of that this morning. Look to me, that's things out of our control and I think I know Josh pretty well and I know his integrity. I don't think that's a thing. He has got a very good sense of humour and hopefully, that's what he was doing,” Mott said ahead of the Thursday clash against Oman.
“I think regardless of any outside noise about qualification, run rates, all that sort of stuff, essentially, we've got to win this game and we've spoken a lot about that. I know Jos spoke really well yesterday about we need to earn the right to push hard in this game as well and I think that's what teams do. Nice, cool, calculated response.
“It's going to be a good wicket out here by the looks of it. We're going with a lot of confidence, I think. We've played good T20 cricket for a while now. It didn't quite come off against Australia last game but I think we've got our structure in place. We're really confident. Those who saw us train yesterday, you can see a buoyant group up and about that's ready for the challenge ahead,” Mott added.
With the game against Scotland washed out, England were in a situation of winning other games comfortably, but after losing to Australia, they’re now dependent on other factors to go their way.
“If we got through and didn't have a washout game, it would be very different. But we knew that coming in, we always knew that washout games could play an impact. But we've still got things in our control and that's all you can ask for.
“We've got two more games. We're treating this game with Oman in isolation. They've got our full attention. We're going to prepare really well for that. And then see what happens in this game. If we get into a position where we're in a dominant position and can push hard, we will. If we have to scrap and fight and get the two points, we will as well.
“So, we'll just keep an open mind, as we always will. But essentially, we want to play that brand of cricket. I think we had glimpses of it the other day. I thought we started well with the bat, but to get a full performance in is really important. Get that on-field confidence. I think we're really close, but obviously, it's been a bit of a disjointed tournament so far.”
Mott further asserted that all 15 players are ready to be included in the playing XI whenever they have the opportunity. “We've said we've come here with a squad mentality. I think turning up, you guys would probably be better judges, but I don't think you'd be able to tell who was in the XI by the way they've trained, and I think that's a sign of a good squad. And I've enjoyed what they've brought so far.
“And hopefully, there's still a lot of cricket left. And I think that's the important thing, is the challenge ahead of us is something we're excited by. We're not daunted by it; we're excited by it. And that's genuine,” Australian Mott added.
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