Cricket
EXPLAINED: Can ICC punish Australia for ‘manipulating’ Scotland game to hurt England’s Super 8 chance in T20 World Cup?
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Jos Buttler’s England are sitting on a tightrope in the T20 World Cup 2024. England, the 2022 champions, might get knocked out from the group stage of the tournament, in case Australia are beaten by Scotland in their final Group B game.
England are winless in their first two matches of the tournament, losing one to Australia and sharing points against Scotland due to a washout. With Scotland unbeaten in the tournament so far (5 points from 3 matches), they are the favourites to qualify in the 2nd spot behind Australia due to their terrific NRR of + 2.164.
T20 World Cup Coverage | Points Table | T20 World Cup 2024 Schedule | Player Stats
HAZLEWOOD’S CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENT
Australia are going to be the king-maker in Group B as they play Scotland in their final group-stage game. In case Australia lose to Scotland, the latter will qualify with 7 points to their name (highest in Group B), 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.
Australia fast-bowler Josh Hazlewood was asked about the NRR calculations after the team’s win against Namibia. Hazlewood cheekily mentioned that Australia would love for England to get knocked out from the T20 World Cup, as it would serve the team’s best interests.
“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.
AUS vs NAM, T20 World Cup 2024 Highlights
“But yeah, it’ll be interesting to see. We’ve never really been in this position before as a team I don’t think, so whether we have discussions or not, we’ll just try and play it again the way we did tonight. Yeah, that’ll be up to people, not me,” he further added.
CAN ICC BAN AUSTRALIA?
Many fans assumed from the statement that Australia would deliberately try to sabotage England’s campaign. And if they do, can ICC take against the Australian team? Can they ban certain players, or maybe the captain at least?
Yes, and No. Here’s what the ICC can do against Australia, and what are the exact limitations of the ICC Code of Conduct.
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.
“Article 2.11 is not intended to cover any corrupt or fraudulent acts (including any use of inside information and/or related betting activity). Such conduct is prohibited under the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code and must be dealt with according to the procedures set out therein. The Team Captain of any team guilty of such conduct shall be held responsible (and subject to sanction) for any offence found to have been committed under this Article,” the ICC Code of Conduct reads.
Under the law, the captain of the team might attract 50-100 per cent fine and has a chance to 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. It also needs to be pointed out that, only the captain can be punished under the current provisions, not any other player or the entire team.
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