England trainer says team must prevent out outside noises and focus on two important points
England's head coach Matthew Mott admits his team is only concentrate on winning against Oman on Thursday and expect the ongoing discussion about run-rate estimates turns out to be in their favor, but that Josh Hazlewood was joking about the possibility of Australia rigging an early exit for the defending T20 World Cup leaders.
After a washed-out opening game against Scotland, England were a far second-best to Australia in Group B, which echoes their calm and first exit from the 50-over World Cup in India before Christmas. After that, they are no longer in charge of their life in Group B.
Yet England's back-to-back triumphs over Oman and Namibia may not be enough to reduce their sizable NRR gap to Scotland, as Hazlewood pointed out when he suggested Australia might be drawn to "knock it around and move it out" when they face Scotland in Group B's last game on Sunday.
If Australia were found to have violated Article 2, the umpires would likely issue a two-match restrictions for their existing captain, Mitchell Marsh, as a result of Steve Waugh's renowned go-slow against the West Indies at the 1999 World Cup, when that event had been New Zealand's target for removal. 11 of the ICC's code of conduct, which pertains to the "inappropriate proper or defensive" manipulation of games.
But Mott, who coached Hazlewood during his time at New South Wales, played down the comments as an example of his" tongue-in-cheek" sense of humour.
" I think I know Josh quite nicely and I know his morality," Mott said. He "has a really good sense of humor," and I'm hoping it was a lot of tongue-in-cheek. Actually, I do n't believe it will ever turn out well. Having grown up in Australia, and the will to win every game, I am sure they did come to the fore. I'm sincerely hoping it was a mean, mean man making a enjoyment of himself. "
Given their lack of competence in the tournament so far, England could use the possibility for a run-rate fracas as a diversion. Even before the Scotland suit was decided, they had been significantly off the game when they had conceded 90 wicketless runs in ten overs, and the pressure is mounting once more, particularly given their depressing 50-over defense last year.
" Irrespective of any outside noise about certification, run-rates, all that sort of stuff, effectively, we've got to win this game and we've spoken a lot about that," Mott said. " We've played great T20 cricket for a while now. It did n't quite come off against Australia last game but I think we've got our structure in place, we're really confident. Those who saw us teach yesterday, you can see a stable group, up and around, that's ready for the challenge away. "
To offset any run-rate antics, England need to beat Oman and Namibia by a combined margin of 117 goes ( or the equivalent when chasing ), thereby hauling their net run-rate above Scotland's, so that only a surprise defeat of Australia can prevent them from moving. But first things first, England must battle a team that Scotland themselves saw off with 41 balloons to give in a subtly quickly end in Antigua on Sunday.
" We're treating this sport with Oman in loneliness," Mott said. " They've got our full attention. We'll put ourselves in a position where we can exert pressure and become powerful. We'll do it if we have to struggle and waste to get the two points. But, we'll just keep an open mind, as we always did.
" But effectively, we want to enjoy that model of cricket. We may have seen it once, I believe. I thought the start was good, but it's crucial to get a whole performance in. Getting that on-field trust. I think we're really near, but certainly it's been a bit of a disjointed event so much. "
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