Marsh could face ban if Australia attempt to sabotage England's progress in 2024 T20 World Cup
Australia captain Mitchell Marsh could face a ban of up to two matches if his side attempts to manipulate the result in the upcoming match against Scotland to hamper England's chances of qualifying in the Super Eight of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
The defending champions are yet to win a match in the tournament, and if they win their remaining matches, a head-to-head battle with Scotland on NRR is inevitable, provided the latter loses to the Men in Yellow.
As a result, Australia, despite breezing into the Super Eight stages, are caught in a conundrum. If they decimate Scotland, much like they have done against the other group members, it will aid their rivals' cause. An ideal win-win scenario for Australia is winning against Scotland by a narrow margin, but trying to orchestrate such a result unnaturally will lead to some serious repercussions.
Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood had stirred up fans and pundits alike by stating that England's early elimination will benefit them and other sides remaining in the competition.
"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 after Australia's thumping win over Namibia.
However, the ICC Code of Conduct has a provision in place to prevent any sort of discrepancy in such situations. Specifically, Article 2.11 relates to the prohibition of manipulation of matches for "inappropriate strategic or tactical reasons… such as when a team deliberately loses a pool match in an ICC Event in order to affect the standings of other teams in that ICC Event."
Apart from a ban, Aussie skipper Mitchell Marsh might also be fined a minimum of 50 percent of his match fee for the Level 2 offense.
Australia could rest some of their first-choice players against Scotland
Unless there is a drastic and conclusive attempt by Australia to maneuver the result in a specific way, there will not be a way of determining whether they have breached the rule or not.
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald might consider resting some of their key players for the match as they have already qualified for the next stage. Since it is within the rules of the game to do that, that is a route they can pursue.
Mitchell Starc was rested for the clash against Namibia after suffering an injury scare earlier in the tournament. With the Super Eight and the knockouts being conducted in a flurry, a brief rest could do Australian players a world of good.