England are sitting on a tightrope in the T20 World Cup 2024. The defending champions can very well be eliminated within the group stage in case Australia is beaten by Scotland in their final group stage game.

Jos Buttler’s side still haven’t managed to win a match in the T20 World Cup as their first match against Scotland was washed out and they lost their second match against Australia. With Scotland still unbeaten in the tournament so far and having terrific net-run rate, they are the favorites to qualify alongside Australia from Group B.

In case Mitchell Marsh’s side lose to Scotland in their final group match, the latter will qualify with 7 points to their name, and in case Australia lose by a small margin, Scotland will tie with England in points – 5, assuming England win their last 2 group stage games.

After getting asked about the net run-rate calculations, Australia’s fast bowler, Josh Hazlewood mentioned that Australia would love for England to get knocked out from the T20 World Cup.

“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 at the post-match press conference.

But the question that arises here is that whether the Aussies would be punished by ICC if they do manipulate their match against Scotland. The Article 2.11 of the ICC Code of Conduct bans players and teams from intentionally manipulating the results of a game to gain strategic advantage.

Under this law, the captain of the responsible team may attract 50-100 per cent fine and also there is a chance that he will be banned for 1-2 matches.

However, there is no way to accurately judge and prove if a player has underperformed deliberately or not. Yes, there can be allegations made for spot-fixing, however, without a no-ball, or a wild wide, ICC might not be able to argue if the player knowingly played poorly or just had a bad day.