T20 World Cup 2024: Paine urges Australia to 'manipulate' Scotland game

Tim Paine (Pic: File Pic

Former Australia test team captain Tim Paine wants Mitchell Marsh and his men to manipulate their T20 World Cup 2024 final group game against Scotland and also wants to knock England out of the tournament.

Defending champions England find themselves in a precarious spot after a washed-out game and a heavy defeat against Australia, who have qualified for the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup 2024.

"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 said on Sen Radio.

England is in the fourth position in the Group B of the T20 World Cup 2024. With a net run rate of -1.800 and two games yet to be played, the Englishmen are way behind Scotland which enjoys second position with five points and a net run rate of +2.164.

In the attempt to make it to the Super 8, Jos Buttler-led England not only needs to win their remaining matches of the T20 World Cup 2024 with huge margins but also needs to expect Australia to hand a huge defeat to Scotland. If this happens, then Scotland's net run rate will be affected leading to a boost in the chances of England.

Paine clarified that he didn't want Australia to lose the match but rather make it close enough for England to be eliminated.

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"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.

"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.
The former wicketkeeper batter sees this as a "smart, calculated" move that may help Australia later in the tournament.

"That's not just because it's England. You got to go into these tournaments trying to win a World Cup. Who could certainly pose a threat in the latter rounds? That is England."

Despite having a disappointing start to the T20 World Cup 2024, Paine feels that the "Three Lions" are capable to turn things around and defend their title.

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"There's no doubt they are still one of the best teams in the world, they got off to a horrible start and now it's in our hands.

"If you could knock out one of the most highly fancied teams in the tournament and do it in a way that's you're not deliberately losing a game, I'm all for it.

"You're manipulating the net run rates a little bit... you can say whatever you want to say, but to me, it is smart calculated, tournament play.

We're here to win a World Cup. I wouldn't want to play England in the semifinal. They've got six or seven guys that could take a game away from you, much like Australia do.

If you can have a side like that and not go through to the next phase, it makes the World Cup easier for you to win. he added.

Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood also acknowledged the potential benefit in hindering England's progress and said it would serve "best interest" for all teams.

"Yeah, I think so. In this tournament you potentially come up against England at some stage again," Hazlewood said in the media interaction after their big nine-wicket win over Namibia in North Sound.

"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."

Hazlewood however suggested that the team's approach will remain unchanged, leaving decisions about game 'manipulation' to others.

"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."

(With PTI Inputs)