Pat Cummins has denied Australia considered manipulating the result of their upcoming T20 World Cup clash against Scotland in order to send defending champions and arch-rivals England packing. He added that such a move would be against the spirit of cricket.
Such a scenario, though, is not on the table after England thrashed Oman in record manner to boost their Net Run Rate over Scotland. If England beat Namibia then Scotland will need to beat Australia to qualify for the Super Eight.
Earlier, when the equation allowed Australia to send England out with a close-enough win vs Scotland, Josh Hazlewood sparked debate by saying it would be in theirs and other team’s “best interest” to knock England out if they had the opportunity.
But Cummins, who had been at the centre of a spirit of cricket debate around Jonny Bairstow’s stumping in the Ashes last year, insisted it’s a tactic that would never have been considered and that Hazlewood’s comments were taken out of context.
“I think when you go out and play you are trying your best every time and if you are not, that’s probably against the spirit of cricket,” he told reporters in St Lucia before the England-Oman match. “Haven’t really thought too deeply because it’s never really popped up.
“I was speaking to Joshy, who had a bit of a joke about it the other day, and think it got taken a little bit out of context. We’ll go there and just try and play Scotland who have had a really good tournament so far and will be tough. It’s [net run rate] something you kind of discuss as one of the quirks of the set-up but in terms of does it change the way we play, absolutely not.
“I’ve never stepped into the field without the mindset of trying to take the game on and be aggressive, like the guys have so far.”
However, with spot in the next round confirmed, Australia are likely to rest some players against Scotland. Cameron Green, Josh Inglis and Ashton Agar, who are yet to feature in the tournament, could be given a run.
Mitchell Starc, who suffered calf soreness and missed the clash against Namibia, is on track to be available. Cummins was rested from the opener against Oman with Nathan Ellis coming into the side on both occasions.
“I haven’t spoken to the selectors or anyone, so I don’t know what they’re thinking,” Cummins said of the option to rotate players. “But I wouldn’t be surprised. I know going into the start of the tournament, in a perfect world, we’d get a game into just about all the squad members.”
However, Cummins added he did not expect resting once the Super Eight stage began even though teams face the prospect of five games in ten days, including travel, should they reach the final.
“It’s a bit of a luxury now in this first section of the tournament but once we get to the Super Eights don’t think they’ll be any resting. Definitely [can play all the games], we are used to playing Test cricket so four overs is a breeze. There’s no workload issues at all. You start prioritising sleep, refuelling and those kind of things but in terms of getting up for the game, it’s fine. We’ve done it loads of times, loads of IPL games are kind of play, fly to the other side of the country and play again. Same with BBL. It’s not necessarily new. It will be busy but we are kind of used to it.”