England‘s qualification for the T20 World Cup knockout stage isn’t a concern for Mitchell Starc, who believes Australia didn’t need to “stuff around” in an attempt to burn their old rivals at the tournament.
With the reigning champions relying on a result in the Australia vs Scotland clash on Sunday (AEST) to make it through to the Super Eight stage, they were able to breathe a sigh of relief when the green and gold outfit got home with two balls to spare.
There had been suggestions that the Aussies could tank against the Scots in order to eliminate England, with Josh Hazlewood even admitting earlier in the week it would be ‘in their best interests’ to manipulate the outcome.
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However, according to his fast-bowling partner in Starc, the comments were taken to the extreme and the Aussies never had plans to mess with the integrity of the game.
“A throwaway line’s been blown right out of proportion by you lot,” the left-arm quick told media post-game.
“You don’t stuff around with mother cricket and try to worry about other results.
“We’re here to win games, it’s international cricket. England now are on the other side of the draw so it really doesn’t make that much difference for the next three games.”
Despite getting home over Scotland thanks to some late heroics from Marcus Stoinis, who continued his strong tournament, Australia will still need to rectify some issues.
Starc admitted the side’s fielding efforts were “sloppy” in their final group stage fixture, but denied it had anything to do with England’s looming qualification.
“We certainly were off the mark in the field with the dropped catches and probably some other areas that were a little bit sloppy as well,” he said.
“So good to get that stuff out of the way now and now we’re into the pointy end.
“It didn’t feel different. It’s still a World Cup game and we’re still playing for Australia so we’re still trying to take wickets and win games.”
Australia are likely to face Bangladesh on Friday in their first knockout game.