Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc expressed that cricket is a great equalizer, and therefore, they do not attempt to manipulate results to their advantage. The 34-year-old also addressed Australia’s subpar fielding in their tense five-wicket victory over Scotland in Gros Islet.
After England defeated Namibia earlier on Sunday, all Scotland required was a victory or a match without a result to advance to the Super 8. Following Josh Hazlewood’s suggestion of potentially losing to Scotland to eliminate England from the tournament, there was still a possibility that Australia could lose their last group match.
Reflecting on the Sunday match, Starc indicated that England belongs to a different group in the Super 8, so the result held little significance. As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, he stated:
“You don’t stuff around with Mother Cricket and try to worry about other results. We’re here to win games. England are now on the other side of the draw, so it really doesn’t make that much difference for the next three games. That was blown right out of proportion.”
The left-arm bowler did not take any wickets against Scotland, who set Australia a challenging target of 181 runs to win. Travis Head was the highest scorer with 68 runs, while Marcus Stoinis contributed 59 runs as the 2021 T20 World Cup champions narrowly won with two balls remaining.
“We were just terrible” –Mitchell Starc commented on Australia’s performance in the field against Scotland
Australia’s drop of six catches against Scotland led Starc to believe that experiencing a rough day in the field early in the tournament could be beneficial. He added:
“We were just terrible. We were certainly off the mark in the field with dropped catches and probably some other areas that were a bit sloppy as well. [It’s] good to get that stuff out of the way, and now we’re into the pointy end.”
Mitchell Marsh and his team will encounter formidable challenges in the Super 8 stage, facing tough battles against teams such as India and Afghanistan.
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