T20 World Cup: Tim Paine urges Australia to ‘manipulate’ Scotland game, eliminate England

Former Australia Test captain Tim Paine urged Mitchell Marsh and his team to manipulate their final group game against Scotland to eliminate defending champions England from the T20 World Cup. England are in a vulnerable position following a washed-out game and a heavy defeat by Australia, which has already secured its place in the Super Eights.

“Absolutely they should (manipulate the result) and I’m not even joking. I’ve spoken to people about this in the last few days. I’m dead serious,” Paine said on Sen Radio. England are now fourth in Group B, with only one point and a Net Run Rate of -1.800. They have two more games remaining. Even if they win all of their games, they cannot surpass Scotland, who is second with five points and a healthy +2.164 NRR.

To advance to the Super Eights, Jos Buttler and his team must not only win both of their remaining games by large margins, but also hope that familiar enemies and table leaders Australia hand Scotland a crushing setback, reducing the Scots’ NRR. Paine reiterated that he does not want Australia to lose the match, but rather to keep it close enough for England to be eliminated. “I’m not sure what the net run rate looks like, you don’t have to lose the game, I think they can just let Scotland get close enough.”

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“Again, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, Scotland could have a day out. But say Scotland batted first and got to 140 and we chased it off 19.5 overs to make sure they don’t suffer a big net run rate loss.”I think England have to win both of their games by about 50 runs to even get up towards Scotland’s net run rate. So, it’s certainly plausible that you can win the game (but still ensure England don’t progress),” he added.

The former wicketkeeper-batsman views this as a “smart, calculated” decision that could benefit Australia later in the competition. “That’s not just because it’s England. You got to go into these tournaments trying to win a World Cup. Who could certainly pose a threat in the latter rounds? That is England.”

Despite the bad start, Paine feels England can turn things around and defend their title. “There’s no doubt they are still one of the best teams in the world, they got off to a horrible start and now it’s in our hands.

“If you could knock out one of the most highly fancied teams in the tournament and do it in a way that’s you’re not deliberately losing a game, I’m all for it.”You’re manipulating the net run rates a little bit… you can say whatever you want to say, but to me, it is smart, calculated, tournament play.

“We’re there to win a World Cup. I wouldn’t want to play England in the semifinal. They’ve got six or seven guys that could take a game away from you, much like Australia do.”If you can have a side like that not go through to the next phase, it makes the World Cup easier for you to win.” he added.