daniel chigunwe
Pat Cummins yesterday ruled out the prospect of Australia underperforming against Scotland in a bid to oust rivals England from the Twenty20 World Cup, saying it would be against the “spirit of cricket.”
Bowling spearhead Josh Hazlewood caused controversy this week when he said it would be in Australia’s interests for reigning champions England to be out of the competition.
Australia have already secured their place in the next round, the Super Eights, and he suggested they could ease up in their closing group B game against Scotland this weekend to engineer their bitter rivals’ exit.
That scenario now appears less likely after England crushed Oman by eight wickets on Thursday to move above Scotland on net run rate with a final game to come against Namibia.
England coach Matt Mott – an Australian – said he hoped Hazlewood was joking and Australia’s test and one-day skipper Cummins assured him that the bowler was.
“When you go out and play you’re trying your best every time.
“And if you’re not, it’s probably against the spirit of cricket,” Cummins told reporters in St Lucia.
“I don’t think you can (go into a game not trying to win) – ever. You’re playing an international game in the middle of a World Cup.
“You still want to try and have a good game and carry that on into the Super Eights. I’ve never stepped on to the field without the mindset of being aggressive, like the guys have so far.”
Cummins said he had spoken to Hazlewood and the comments were tongue-in-cheek and “got taken a bit out of context.”
“We’ll go out there and try to play Scotland, who have had a really good tournament so far, so it’s going to be tough,” he said.
“It’s something you discuss as one of the quirks of the set-up, but it does it change the way we play? Absolutely not.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand head coach Gary Stead admitted yesterday his future was out of his hands as the Black Caps were dumped out of the Twenty20 World Cup in the group phase.
Back-to-back defeats in their opening games have left New Zealand bottom of their group and unable to reach the knock-out stages of the tournament, hosted by the United States and the West Indies.
Stead, who took over as New Zealand coach in 2018 and led them to the 2021 final, has a year left on his contract.
Speaking prior to Afghanistan’s win over Papua New Guinea, which confirmed New Zealand’s exit, Stead deflected the question when asked if he was still the right person to lead the Black Caps.
“That’s a question you should be asking other people,” the 52-year-old told Radio New Zealand.
“I can look at myself in the mirror and know that the preparation we tried to put in place has been as good as (possible).”
New Zealand never got going at the World Cup.
They suffered a 13-run loss to the West Indies in Trinidad having already slipped to a shock first-ever defeat against Afghanistan in their opening game.
New Zealand went into the tournament without any warm-up games.
“It’s a hollow feeling and the guys are disappointed,” Stead said following the West Indies defeat, which left them with only a slim mathematical chance of surviving.” – SuperSport.
Online Reporter