Australian pacer Josh Hazelwood discussed Australia’s strategy to eliminate England from the T20 World Cup 2024. With Mitchell Marsh’s team already advancing to the Super 8 stage after a dominant win over Namibia in their Group B match, Australia is aware of the potential threat England could pose if they progress.
Josh Hazlewood said, “we’ve had some real struggles against England 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. It’ll be interesting to see”. (Code Sports). pic.twitter.com/sLweK9XZBK
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Australia Plan To Knock Defending Champions England Out Of T20 World Cup
Hazelwood hinted that Australia might plan to hinder England’s chances during their game against Scotland. England is in a precarious position in the Group B standings with no victories.
During the post-match press conference, Hazelwood remarked that Australia, for the first time, is in a situation where they must strategize to prevent England from reaching the Super 8. Although no concrete plan has been devised yet, the team may aim to disrupt England’s advancement.
“Yeah, I think so. In this tournament you potentially come up against England at some stage again and, as you said, 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,” Hazelwood said.
Australia secured a decisive 9-wicket victory over Namibia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua. They chased down the modest target of 73 runs in just 5.4 overs, achieving their highest-ever powerplay total.
“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.”
Hazelwood also hinted at what could be Australia’s strategy for the upcoming match against Scotland.
“Not too sure really, whether you get close and you just knock it around and drag it out. There’s a few options there, but as you said, to take confidence from winning and winning well, I think that’s almost more important than potentially trying to knock someone else out. They’ve still got a lot to do on their behalf as well, so I think it’ll become clearer the closer we get to that sort of stuff,” Hazelwood said.
For England to make it to the Super 8 stage, winning their next two matches against Oman and Namibia won’t be sufficient; they will also need Scotland to lose to Australia. Currently, Scotland has 5 points from 3 matches, with 2 wins.
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