Australia cricketer Josh Hazlewood has been slammed for suggesting it would be in his team's interests to manipulate the result of their T20 World Cup meeting with Scotland.
England and Australia have been drawn in the same group for the tournament, which is being held in the United States and the Caribbean. Only two teams go through from each group, with England competing with Scotland to progress along with the 2021 champions.
The Aussies are already through, thanks to three wins from their first three games. One of those was a 36-run victory over an England side whose task has been complicated by a no-result in their own rain-affected game against Scotland.
Wins for England in their final two games, against already-eliminated Oman and Namibia, would draw them level on points with Scotland and keep alive their chances of progressing. If that happens, and Scotland lose to Australia, then it would come down to net run rate - something which hasn't gone unnoticed by Hazlewood.
"If you got through undefeated and have a good net run rate, it doesn't count for much," Hazlewood told reporters after a comfortable victory over Namibia sealed Australia's progress. They needed less than six overs to pass the lowly target of 72 set by their opponents, making it three wins from three.
"In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again and they're probably one of the top few teams on their day," the 33-year-old added. "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.
"It'll be interesting to see. We've never really been in this position before as a team, I don't think. Whether we have discussions or not, or we just try and play again the way we did tonight, that'll be up to people, not me."
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Hazlewood has come in for criticism on social media following his comments. One slammed the Australian's "cocky, arrogant attitude" while another said "I’m assuming he’s trolling but surely this goes against everything cricket represents."
"Extremely unprofessional and shameful from a player of a team that dominates ICC tournaments regardless of format," wrote a third. "Deliberate attempt for manipulation is ugliest thing you do as sportsperson."
Not everyone was opposed, though. Indeed, one made comparisons with the England football team's approach at the 2018 World Cup.
"Nothing wrong with this. England are a bigger threat to Australia than Scotland are," they said. "We did a similar thing in the 2018 World cup fielding a weak squad vs Belgium to deliberately finish second for the easier half of the draw."
Even if England do progress with Australia, the teams would not be able to meet again until the semi-finals at the earliest. Before that comes the Super 8, for which they will be in different sides of the draw.