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Australia’s campaign in the ongoing T20 World Cup has sparked controversy, with captain Mitchell Marsh facing a potential two-match suspension if the team loses deliberately against Scotland. This unusual situation stems from England’s precarious position in Group B.
The crux of the issue lies in sportsmanship and the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) code of conduct. Deliberately losing a match to impact another team’s standing, as could be the case if Australia throws the Scotland game to knock out England, violates Article 2.11 of the code. This article prohibits “inappropriate strategic or tactical reasons” for manipulating a match outcome, including actions affecting other teams’ standings.
Josh Hazlewood’s take on Australia’s match against Scotland
Reports suggest comments from Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood ignited the issue. After Australia secured a qualification for the Super 8 stage by defeating Namibia, Hazlewood hinted at potentially manipulating the margin of victory against Scotland to influence England’s fate.
“In this tournament, you potentially come up against England at some stage again. 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,” Hazlewood said in the post-match press-conference.
“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. That’ll be up to [other] people, not me,” he added.
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What’s the Level 2 offense under Article 2,11?
If found guilty of manipulating the match, Marsh, as captain, could be charged with a Level Two offense under Article 2.11. Depending on the severity of the offense, the minimum penalty could be a fine of 50% of the match fee, while the maximum penalty could be four demerit points and two suspension points. This would exclude Marsh from Australia’s first two Super 8 matches.
While Australia may aim to influence England’s qualification, doing so through a deliberate loss undermines the spirit of the game. The consequences for Marsh and the team could be significant, jeopardizing their T20 World Cup ambitions.
