Australia have the opportunity to plot England’s downfall in the 2024 T20 World Cup and could jeopardize their rivals’ Super Eight qualification by resting players for their final group match against Scotland.
Their coach Andrew McDonald reiterated on Monday that his players were focused on Tuesday night’s game against Namibia in Antigua. If they win, Australia will qualify for the Super Eights with their remaining games to play. With their seedings pre-determined in Group 1 of the Super Eights, they go into Saturday’s game against Scotland without any pressure on the result.
“We need a win to secure our own way (against Namibia),” McDonald said of the prospect of resting players for the game against Scotland. “Then, once you have your qualifications solidified, you can start to explore their potential if you feel you need to. If you win this competition, you will see a ‘Q’ next to your name.”
Scotland have the added advantage of being in a better position in terms of information asymmetry with England as they play their final group match. Hypothetically, they could find themselves in a scenario where Australia are set at 200 runs to win. But both teams will know that Scotland only need to score 150 points to advance NRR ahead of England and qualify for the Super Eights.
“We don’t really focus on England and where they are,” McDonald said. “We played against them, got past them and it will be important for us in the (remaining) games. England clearly have work to do in the next few games.
“We were in a similar situation in the last T20 World Cup (2022) where we had to chase net performance. It’s always difficult, you’re always dependent on different results, it’s not a good situation. But that’s their problem to solve, not ours. “It’s not a problem that needs to be solved.”
McDonald said he believes NRR is the best tiebreaker possible. “I don’t think there is any other way to actually do NRR. It makes it interesting.” However, he hinted at some frustration over the fact that Australia’s record will be wiped out in the second league stage and that Group B victory will not affect their status as the second seed (B2) going into the Super Eights.
“The only thing is we don’t take NRR all the way to the Super Eights, which is a bit interesting. The whole tournament starts again. We wanted to see the advantage of the early rounds, see how you were. We got the No. 2 seed. . We can’t change that seed, so it doesn’t change what happens in the Super Eights.”
Asked whether cricket could consider a similar system, McDonald drew comparisons to Australian Rules Football and said: “Don’t you have to have a fluid schedule to figure out what’s going to happen and unfold? I know it’s the same for other sports. Right now, we don’t lock in the later rounds until we see the first part of the season.
“It’s probably more of an AFL lens, but I think sometimes you’re the beneficiary of that position and sometimes you’re not, so whatever happens, there’s a way for teams to find out whether they’re in the right position or not. There may be a Super Eights or not.”
Australia could play five matches in 10 days if they reach the final in Barbados on June 29, and MacDonald said Australian management was aware of the players’ workload ahead of Tuesday’s game. He said: “There was a short turnaround with this game against England. It also includes travel. I believe that whatever XI we put out there will be very strong.
“Obviously there’s a big challenge for the team to navigate the Super Eights (game, travel, game, travel, game). How to manage resources and make sure they’re ready to perform in a short turnaround is going to be a bit of a challenge. The XI for that period may not necessarily be confirmed, but we have Namibia in front of us.”
