"You don’t stuff around with Mother Cricket" - Mitchell Starc on Australia allegedly trying to manipulate result against England in T20 World Cup 2024
Australian speedster Mitchell Starc opined that cricket is a great leveller; hence, they don't try to play with it by manipulating results to their own will. The 34-year-old also spoke about Australia's poor fielding against Scotland following their nervy five-wicket win in Gros Islet.
With England defeating Namibia earlier on Sunday, all Scotland needed was a win or no result to progress to Super 8. After Josh Hazlewood's hint at losing to Scotland to eliminate England from the tournament, there remained a chance that Australia will lose their final group fixture.
Speaking after Sunday's fixture, Starc believes England are in a different group for Super 8; hence, it hardly matters what the result was. As quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald, he said:
"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 pacer went wicketless against Scotland, who set Australia a stiff 181 to win. Travis Head top-scored with 68, while Marcus Stoinis struck 59 as the 2021 T20 World Cup champions sneaked home with two balls to spare.
"We were just terrible" - Mitchell Starc on Australia's fielding against Scotland
With Australia dropping a staggering six catches against Scotland, Starc reckons it is good to get a bad day on the field early in the tournament. 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 Co. will face daunting challenges in the Super 8 stage, locking horns against the likes of India and Afghanistan.