T20 World Cup: Australia wary of Scotland threat; Pakistan take on Ireland in dead rubber
T20 World Cup here with the outcome set to influence Super Eight qualification. With Australia having already booked one spot for the Super Eight from Group B, Scotland and England are in race for the second position.
Scotland will go through if they beat Australia or even if their contest is washed out, but in case of a defeat to the Mitchell Marsh-led side and England winning against Namibia hours earlier, the Scotswould miss the bus.
For England, a win over Namibia is a must and if the Australians do them a favour by beating Scotland, chances will only brighten up.
A washout in England-Namibia game in the same group will see Scotland go through.
Australia have been in top-form with hardly any serious concern. Nathan Ellis is expected to continue featuring in their playing XI since the Australians tend to rest one of their big three fast bowlers — Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc — in such contests.
Hazlewood had earlier mentioned about Australia manipulating their approach against Scotland to keep England threat at bay, but Jos Buttler's team have done themselves a massive favour by improving their Net Run Rate immensely with a dominant victory over Oman.
For the Scots, beating former champions Australia is 'a hell of an opportunity' in Michael Leask's words and they would want to give their best, or maybe even hope that rain gods do them a favour, since they are still second on the points table with five points compared to England's three.
Squads:
Australia: Mitchell Marsh ©, Ashton Agar,
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